La mecha

This is a low key, almost minimalist film using mostly amateur actors, produced with a shoestring budget. The story line, (an old man being driven around town trying to find a wick for his old heater during the long months of the Argentine winter) is an excuse to look at an aspect of the Buenos Aires reality that is usually well hidden from both tourists and better-off locals: the dismal poverty in which millions live in the Gran Buenos Aires, the slums and suburbs that surround the capital city. While there is very little action, one gets a sense of the solitude, with touches of solidarity and camaraderie, in which countless anonymous people conduct their lives in times of crisis and economic despair. So not no be dismissed, although this will certainly not be one of the blockbusters Argentine cinema has been delivering of late.