Tocá para mí

When a young drummer in a punk band learns of his step father's death he leaves his bandmates to attend the wake, and thus begins his journey to find out where he comes from. It's an interesting beginning to this film, that begins in the city(Buenos Aires?) but spends most of its time on the wet, cold, and rainy Argentine pampas. As he carries the accordian his step father left him, he hitches a ride on a big rig heading west(?) and meets the prostitute the driver has hired to accompany him on the road. They both get off in Los Angeles, a small community in the middle of nowhere, and there he will discover his surprising background.

The relationship between him and the prostitute, who either works in a trailer with a red light on the porch, or out on the highway, in the end saves both of them. At times comic, but always involving, this film shows an interesting slice of modern day Argentina.

I recently rented the dvd of TOCA PARA MI. This Argentine film can easily charm any viewer who takes the time to enjoy its photography, characters and terse dialogue. The movie's protagonist is the drummer in a South American punk-rock garage band Vomita, which can be translated as "puke." The characters and situations are shady, deceptive and highly-observed, with reality, dreams and desires coming together to create destiny. It's also very funny, with the hero's dead stepfather's aerial skill and humorous and skillful delivery of his lines

Hermes Gaido excells in simplicity in the lead role. He has a quiet intensity and child-like innocence that makes the viewer care about his search and discoveries. Scenes of his character fighting the elements are startling and very convincing, demonstrating escalating tension on screen as he struggles to travel to his hometown of Los Angeles. Let me assure you that this "Los Angeles" is not in California.

And again on the fun side, I'd also like to mention a stunning scene inside the Argentine brothel, where the madam looks like she stepped out of a John Waters movie. I recommend this great little gem to everyone.

When I watched this somewhat extraordinary movie it wasn't in the database yet, and my memory's pretty bad. But I remember I liked it, it has some beautiful scenes, although other moments are a little bit artificial, and not all characters are completely 'real' and believable.

The story of a drummer in a punk band, who tries to find out where he comes from, when his adoptive-father dies, is sometimes surrealistic, sometimes pretty innovative, sometimes a little constructed, but quite refreshing compared to all the uninteresting mainstream-movies.