Quiéreme is a lovely little film from Spain and Argentina that is currently available on demand on television channels but likely will come to DVD soon, as Amazon.com shows interest in the film with this well-designed poster. As a matter of fact this may be a fine discovery for Amazon.com - to introduce foreign films with posters to ferret out those who have seen the movie who will come forth and support their effort to call attention to some fine films that otherwise would stay hidden.
Based on a story by Gustavo Cabaña and Mercedes González del Solar (adapted for the screen by Beda Docampo Feijóo and Cesar Gomez Copello) the film is divided in content as well as location between Buenos Aires, Argentina and Madrid/Barcelona/Sitges, Spain: this dichotomy of continents is further enhanced by a cast of actors form both countries. Spanish writer/actor/director Beda Docampo Feijóo directs ('The Last Train') a very fine cast of actors.
Francisco, also known as Pancho, (the very talented Argentine actor Darío Grandinetti) is the premiere chef in a highly regarded restaurant in Buenos Aires co-owned by the beautiful Rita (Agustina Lecouna). Their life of success and luxury is suddenly disrupted by the delivery of a little girl Amparo (Cristina Valdivieso) to their doorstep: Amparo is Pancho's granddaughter by his estranged daughter Lucia (Kira Miró) in Spain: the girl's identity is revealed to Pancho via a homemade video that reveals a fragile Lucia. Rita is shocked by the secret Pancho has kept and leaves Pancho locked out of the restaurant. Rita's father throws him out of his elegant flat. There is nothing left to do but to return to Madrid to find the mute Amparo's mother.
Once in Madrid Pancho has great difficulty locating Lucia but finds the older father, a loser, who leads the two to Lucia's roommate, a stripper named Consuelo ( Adriadna Gil), and eventually Pancho, the now talkative Amparo, and Consuelo discover the sad truth about the life and status of Lucia - a fact that draws Pancho and Amparo closely together as they both need each other's love. The story is not always without flaws but the acting by Dario Grandinetti alone is worth watching this very sensitive little movie about the need for family. In Spanish with English Subtitles.
Grady Harp
