Martín (Hache) (1997)

the audience applauded

Sadly Over-hyped

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Very wordy, almost feels like a theater piece at times. A young man, somewhat lost, comes from Argentina to Madrid to be with his distanced, emotionally detached filmmaker father. But he ends up spending almost as much time with his dad's sexy, druggie younger mistress, (an incandescent performance by Cecilia Roth) and his dad's hedonistic, bi-sexual actor best friend.Entertaining and moving at times, the central character (the filmmaker-father) is so removed, and so hurtful it becomes hard to understand why the others continue to put up with him. It also gets a bit repetitive, as it becomes obvious that each time the father starts to open up, he'll just close down again. And it can feel very wordy.It reminded me of a pretty good Woody Allen drama. If it had more humor it might have made it even better. Still, I'm glad I saw it, and I find moments and performances stick with me. And on second viewing I liked it a bit more, forgiving the theatricality, and enjoying getting to know these people.

Martin(Hache) drawed the relationship between a father (played as a giant for Federico Luppi) and his son (beautiful Juan Diego Botto). The story runs towards Madrid and Buenos Aires, mixturing perfectly the lifes of four people completely misunderstood. I love this film, because I do. But what I love the most is the dialogues. Scenes that nothing have to do with the movie shows the magistral scripters selected for it... But I´d rather prefer the original version, it´s purer than English one. Perfect directed, perfect performances, Perfect script (with a capital P). Just sit down, relax, and learn. You´ll really enjoy it.

Once or twice in a lifetime you watch a movie that strikes you exactly in the moment when you need it, and you feel completely identified with it. That happened to me today when I saw Martín (Hache), commenting on movies is a very subjective thing to do, you can like a movie even if it's a flick just because you needed someone to tell you what the movie is saying in that exact moment. Anyway, that's what this movie is about; reflection and not only for young people also for adults.This movie has lots of social and political opinions in between lines, it's a perfect mirror of the society we live in but it doesn't give a point of view that's what's great about it!, it keeps itself objective. Like Dante would say about drugs, they make everything relative the only truth is your truth, Post-modernism!, XX Century!, there aren't any more rules to obey, society is rotten and it's a dream to try and change it, so you might as well adapt and enjoy the "good" things about life.After you see this movie I really hope you question yourself, what is the meaning of "good". Everything is relative, remember?

Martin (Hache) is one of the best films because the plot is about feelings, about the relationship between humans. Real people listening, learning and talking with real people.Excellent characters with a lot to tell, to listen. A plot that we may live every day and we didn't notice, a plot that shakes to the point to think why you really are alive...If you miss this, you will lose two hours of reflection.