Los Marziano (2011)

One of my all time favorites.

How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Luis Marziano, a wealthy man, He lives in a closed community around a golf course in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. One day, while walking on the property, to his amazement, he falls into a hole, breaking his arm. The problem is not only the unexplainable mystery as to why the ground opened up, swallowing him completely. What to do? Things like this should not occur in such a valuable property.Luis who is married to Nena, is told about another problem with his estranged brother Juan. Delfina, their sister is in good terms with both brothers. She comes every now and then as Luis' guest to ask for money for her niece. Nena decides on all these transactions. In reality Delfina is secretly helping Juan and other relatives. Luis has spent a lot on the family and he figures enough is a enough, even though he has been fortunate to make a lot of money. Luis does not appear to be a generous man. We watch him make fresh orange juice for himself and Nena, his glass is always fuller than his wife's.There is a real problem with Juan. One day he notices he cannot read a thing. Juan has been a dreamer all his life. Separated from his own wife, he still lives far from them in the North of Argentina. Because of the situation, he comes to the capital where Delfina wants to have him check. The malady is puzzling. The neurologist specialist he goes to see has no clear solution, or a name for the disease that befell Juan. The re encounter between Juan and his former wife and daughter does not shed light into what caused their separation.A puzzling picture by Ana Katz. She is the wife of actor/director Daniel Hendler, and she is making her third full length film with this entry. The main idea behind the plot is the conflict between the brothers which is not explained how it began. The two brothers are different as day and night. Luis is the practical sort, while Juan, who must face a real health issue has to deal with the possibility of going completely blind by himself. Delfina, their sister is the go-between the brothers, trying to bring them back together as the weakest one, needs the embrace of his family. Of course, it would be easy to dismiss the film. Ms. Katz does not make it any easier for the viewer. The holes in the golf course are just an excuse to get Luis rattled, and with reason. In fact, he is blind when it comes to his approach to the less fortunate members of his own family.Ms. Katz was lucky to get the great Gillermo Francella to play Juan, the man whose life becomes uncertain as he faces perhaps a life threatening disease. Arturo Puig makes a stoic Luis, a man who has to figure out the mystery of the sinking holes in his nice gated community. Rita Cortese makes a wonderful Delfina and Mercedes Moran does a good job with her Nena, the neglected wife of Luis. Even Daniel Hendler lends a helping hand as a typical doctor of the public health system.

It's hard for a director to achieve excellence at story telling when one gives up on focusing exclusively on one or two strong conflicts and prefers to break it down to several nucleus of conflict.None of them are fully revealed, none of them are entirely discussed nor presented to it's roots to the audience. That's where the miracle of this movie exist: the whole, the sensation you get at the end of it, is more than cathartic. It's like completing a puzzle mentally even thou you look down at the table and see that there are missing parts.No, the miracle is not that even thou the director is a slacker, the movie gets some meaning at the end. That kind of analysis is simplistic.Strongly recommended.

I have just spent two hours watching this film. I have lost two hours of my precious time. Luckily, this movie has tremendous actors so it added a bit of value to this time spent. Los Marziano is pretentious, has no humor, has so many "sub scripts" which conduct you to nowhere at all...the main conflict in this movie leads you nowhere too...so I hate to say it but it has been a complete disappointment. I think the main problem in this movie is the script. writers use to lack auto-critics...so this may be the case. It can be one reason for this "apparently intelligent" film, which is so boring and lack of interest. There is no intelligence nor sensitivity in the characters, situations, etc. Direction is good, but as it is trying to give support to a weak script, it doesn't help. If you don't believe me, just go to the cinema.