Common Ground

In Buenos Aires, a few days before traveling to Spain with his beloved wife Liliana Rovira (Mercedes Sampietro) to visit their son Pedro (Carlos Santamaria), the leftist Literature Professor Fernando Robles (Federico Luppi) is compulsory retired in the University, and he concludes that it is impossible to live with his pension. The crisis in Argentina does not allow Fernando to get a new job, and his wife decides to sell her family's apartment and move to a small farm in Cordoba to reduce their expenses. Once in the country, while adapting to the new lifestyle, a tragedy happens.

"Lugares Comunes" is a very beautiful, critical, human, sensitive and real film about love, life, adaptation and convictions in the third age. The story takes place in Argentina, but could be in Brazil or any South American country, where in general people can not keep their status with their retirement pension, being forced to continue working to survive, or to fall from middle-class to very poor class. This touching narrative has a perfect pace and flows naturally, supported by the impressive performances of Federico Luppi and Mercedes Sampietro. All the characters are credible and beautiful (with the exception of the head of the university), and this movie is a gem. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Lugares Comuns"("Common Places")

After seeing Martin (Hache), I was looking forward to seeing another film by this director. I was not disappointed. This film is every bit as good as Martin, and that is saying a lot. What a wonderful, touching, wise, and inspiring film! There are moments of such emotional intensity, I was often overwhelmed. Particularly in the scene where he meets Tutti, the writing and performances are so beautiful I found myself sobbing. And such marvelous, loving humor often accents the serious topics that the film touches on. And unexpected moments that make you smile after you gasp. It is such a shame that these films are not available in the U.S. I would so much like to see this one again and share it with friends.

Adolfo Aristrain is one of the best Argentine directors working today. As proved by his previous films, this director goes deep into the souls of the characters he paints for us on the screen canvas. Working on Lorenzo F. Aristrain's novel, in which he is credited with co-writing the screen adaptation together with Kathy Saavedra, the director achieves a tremendously appealing film that will resonate with audiences of all ages.

The story presents us with a university professor who suddenly loses his job at the beginning of the film. He is seen telling his students to be honest in whatever they decide to do in life. In a way, he is asking, perhaps, to emulate him, since he has given all the students his best and more productive years. Finding himself unemployed, and with no assets to speak of, makes him think about what to do with the new reality.

In another society, maybe, Professor Robles would have gone looking for another job, but in Argentina, without any other skills to account for himself, he is a casualty. Robles finds it difficult to confess to his wife his new status. Lili, a social worker, loves him and offers to sell her family's apartment, where the couple lives, as a way to get things under control. A visit to their son in Spain doesn't change anything for Fernando.

When the kind lawyer Carlos hears about a small farm for sale, he offers advice to Fernando that it might be the proper thing to do, as a way to reduce expenses and get out of expensive Buenos Aires into a more modest environment. In this country place, Fernando and Lili find happiness, but unfortunately, it's short lived because fate intervenes.

In Federico Luppi, director Aristrain has found the perfect actor to play Fernando Robles. Mr. Luppi captures the essence of this troubled soul in ways that amaze us. This actor is any director's dream! Having seen Mr. Luppi on stage, as well as in his many screen appearances, one can say he is an extraordinary actor.

Mercedes Sampietro, as Lili, compliments Mr. Luppi. Ms. Sampietro is excellent in her role and adds a layer to the texture of the film because obviously, she can relate to this woman. Arturo Puig as Carlos, the lawyer, and Valentina Bassi, as the younger Natacha, are perfect in their roles.

Ultimately, this is Mr. Aristrain's triumph for getting all these elements to work in such fine fashion. "Common Places" will touch the heart of the viewer.

Aristarain is one the greatest film-maker in Argentina; if he were born in an other country (more economically powerful) he would probably be a sort of classic film-maker in the history of cinema. Aristarain belongs to an old generation of argentinian artists who has been wise enough in order to keep on with his believes and aesthetics but without being stuck in the past. His movies are fresh and sharp. He doesn't lose his grip which makes his narratives very well deployed as well as subordinated to a couple of constant topics: the lost of national identity, or the dialectical swing between subjectivity and social life which is doubled in another kind of paradoxical choice between remain faithful towards oneself or to give up and obey the conservative imperative of petty-bourgeois which demand to fit in the status quo. Lugares comunes looks like a minimalist film, but it is a essential one because whatever is unnecessary in this story is not included. Luppi, by the way the best actor from Las pampas, is a literature teacher, a prototype of middle class member who is retired in advance. He is a leftist man who have found that the dream of another society started in 1879, and after that date that longing for another kind of society has been systematically betrayed. Sampietro, his wife, is an spanish woman who work with the poor. After being left with a miserable pension they have to reconsider where they want to (and can) live. They finally end running a farm. The film has many virtues: for instance, one is able to see how social history determine and comprise the psyche life of individuals. Moreover, Lugares comunes is a document of Argentinian decadence, a very satisfactory tale of how people manage to keep its decency. But it is also a love story and a philosophical meditation about getting older, the limits of reason, and how to live when there is not any transcendental meaning except the fact of being alive. The name of the film is an ironic antithesis because Lugares comunes is at odds with common sense: it is a honest critic of each ideological gadgets which has made of Argentina a ghost and creepy territory where people want to fade or voluntary exile if they still strive for being alive with any gesture of human integrity.

LUGARES COMUNES (Common Ground) is yet another sensitive Argentinean film that has the courage to deal with the bumpy political life of Argentina as well as the equally rocky road to aging. Based on the novel by Lorenzo F. Aristarain and directed by Adolfo Aristarain this is a film of sunlight and shadows - and those clouds that promise to unveil the sun despite passing darkness.

Fernando Robles (Federico Luppi) is a writer and university professor in Buenos Aires who is informed before his planned trip to Madrid to visit his son Pedro (Carlos Santamaría) and daughter-in-law Natacha (Valentina Bassi) that he is being placed in early retirement: the crumbling government of Argentina cannot support such things as education! After an exquisite farewell of sage advice to his students on what is important in the role of a teacher, he goes home to his loving wife of many years Liliana (Mercedes Sampietro) to prepare for their journey to Madrid. At the airport Liliana senses sadness in Fernando and he confesses that he has been 'fired', that they have little money to live on in Buenos Aires: he covers his sadness by buying Liliana perfumes she loves. This couple is bonded so beautifully it makes us weep.

In Madrid the couple is forced to stay with the son and daughter but the closeness of this familial proximity is intolerable when Fernando informs his son of his financial situation. Pedro is cold and harsh and is in life for money and refuses to assist his parents. The couple leaves, returning to Argentina where they under advice from lawyer Carlos (Arturo Puig) sell their home and move to the country where they plan to grow grapes - a return to the purity of the land. But fate intervenes and the story ends in a manner that leaves the viewer sad but wiser.

The cast is sterling and the direction is first rate. This is one of those films that should be required viewing for many reasons, but especially for people who are approaching the time of retirement and the fear that holds. Highly recommended for a large viewing audience. In Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp