Azor

In a few short sentences:

• Nice cinematography
• Weird and annoying soundtrack
• Ok acting
• Slow pace (slow enough to make me quit watching after 1/3 of the movie)

Summary:

The film tackles a theme rarely used by the cinema: the relationship of private banks with the military, businessmen, diplomats and officials of the last Argentine civil-military dictatorship. And he does it as a kind of thriller and noir (although it exceeds them) that portrays the elegant and above all discreet descent into hell of a Swiss banker who must frequent these estates in the early 1980s in Argentina. And the result is downright disturbing.

Review:

Ivan de Wiel, a private banker from Geneva (Fabrizio Rongione), arrives in Buenos Aires in the early 1980s with his wife Inés (Stéphanie Cléau) because they have lost contact with the partner in charge of the previous region, Kies, about whom they circulate various rumors. His role is to reconnect with the client portfolio and discreetly find out what happened to Kies to clear those rumors.

And what customers! De Wiel will undertake a tour that will include various members, houses and circles of the Buenos Aires upper class (with soldiers, prelates, landowners with stud farms, their wives and lawyers and some upstart), diplomatic personnel and some officials, in a kind of thriller and detective noir (although the film exceeds them), in the context of the military dictatorship.

The banker is faced with a framework in which at first it is difficult for him to position himself. He will act as an explorer in an elegant jungle where he must meet some sinister characters and a plot of things not said or half said, going down a descent into hell with "discretion as strategy" (in the words of its director), where the main objective will be to recover or preserve clients and businesses and where the title of the film, an expression of a Swiss dialect, will end up acquiring its full meaning.

The young Swiss director Andreas Fontana (who later trained in Buenos Aires) performs in his debut film a great reconstruction of the period (in every sense) in terms of the places that the protagonist must frequent, beginning with that Swiss marriage whom he hosts in the Plaza Hotel (and of course, not the Sheraton, a new rich Americans hotel) and tackles a topic rarely seen in the cinema: the relationship between private banks and the military, businessmen and officials of the last Argentine civic-military dictatorship. The film paints at the same time a portrait of this upper class in love with his possessions and proud of his silly Francophilia. At the same time, he makes powerful use of what is not shown, of "blind spots", of the off-field, resources that are very significant in times and contexts such as those he portrays.

And the result is downright disturbing.

Love the 80's style of movie in a new jacket, but making it nothing short as it maybe has the old camera style of sceneiers even the actors behave. The amount of actors playing is alot even though not all actors are high quality but they do lean towards a natural playing instead of reading the script. Many blank sceniers that feel empty but they hold a very delicated information, what is not much but do help the story building.

The acting is done nicely, the main player is good, the rest could step a bit more up.

They drag a lot in the movie and hard to follow where they want to go with the movie. Even though we know a bit how it will go as audience, but so many options.

The scenes are not low budget made including the clothing and everything around it pulls you really back to the 80's of Argentina. Perfect done. I do need to say they limited the amount of variables like people and decoration, to not misstep because during the pool party I have the feeling they kinda fell in the water. Feeling C level quality.

The camera work is basic also the transaction of scenes, this seems more like the 90's where they highlight so much as if the audience is stupid and every scene feels like cut out and modified and placed back into the movie again.

Azor: Argentina, 1980, the height of Junta's dirty war, Yvan (Fabrizio Rongione) is a private banker from Geneva who travels to the country after his banks representative there, Rene, has disappeared. He makes a journey into the heart of the darkness as he meets with his banks clients or perhaps it's a descent into the circles of Hell as his driver's name is Dante. We witness corruption but also fear on the part of Yvan's upper class clients, the kleptocratic wing of the Junta is even seizing property belonging to the super rich, they are anxious to send money abroad. Even a big rancher cannot save his daughter who had leftist sympathies. The sense of evil is palpable and the tension builds as Yvan follows Rene's trail. A taut political thriller. Directed by Andreas Fontana from a screenplay by Albert Dupontel and Mariano Llinás. 9/10.

The title, 'Azor' is translated as a code for, 'Be quiet'. The main characters rarely venture beyond the act of listening as they navigate through a maze of pretense and subterfuge that covers a world of arrogance, oppression and evil.

Fabrizio Rongione and Stephanie Cleau as the husband and wife strategize their pathway among the principals of a financial and political junta. Horrible crimes have been committed and an atmosphere of fear laps at the edges of every conversation. The particulars are never mentioned and studiously avoided. In the end we see that everyone who plays a part is fully complicit in a ruthless pursuit of power and greed.

A period piece that visually could have been made in the period that it portrays, the movie drifts from scene to scene, conversation and conversation in what feels like a dream. What is real is never spoken and everything important is hidden behind a curtain of appearance and language.