Plan B ( Argentina 2009)

The Gist:

Bruno wants his ex girlfriend back. Granted, it is not as if she is totally out of his life, she is still occasionally sleeping with him. An affair her new boyfriend Pablo does not know of, but now that Bruno can't "have" her as an actual girlfriend, the affair is not enough. His first "plan" to get her back, to simply ask her to dump the new boyfriend in favor of Bruno is met with a resounding no. So he switches to "Plan B," where he will come between Laura and Pablo by becoming Pablo's friend and seducing him thus causing Laura and Pablo to break up. An admittedly unusual tactic. More so considering both men are straight, but who exactly is Bruno tricking in this scheme? 

Comments:

This is Marco Berger's first movie. I'm a huge fan of another one of his other films Hawaii, and this has several similarities, shared themes, to that story. A slow measured tale of two men hanging out together over the course of a summer learning about each other and becoming friends, and a call back to childhood and innocence symbolized by memories of playing with view-masters as kids. You know, those plastic toys that let you see slides of photos. Then again, if you're younger than middle aged, maybe you don't. 

It's an interesting story, and despite his plan of seduction making no sense at all, Bruno jumps into it with a certain charming, if underhanded gusto, flirting with Pablo in a more or less easily plausible denial sort of way. The story could have been played for goofy laughs, but is dealt with seriously here, which makes for a more complicated story than the set up implies. It's well done and worth seeing, as long as subtitles and an unhurried character development heavy story don't bother you that is.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes, though not exactly

Gratuitous nudity:

No, though there are several underwear scenes, scenes that as they work to show the growing trust and friendship between the two leads doesn't fit the description of gratuitous 

• Director: Marco Berger 
• Writer: Marco Berger
• Actors: Manuel Vignau, Lucas Ferraro, Mercedes Quinteros 
• Note: Manuel Vignau who plays Bruno here, also stars in Hawaii, where he plays Euginio a gay middle class writer.
• Spanish. Argentine Spanish specifically, so a couple of unusual word choices if you're not familiar with it. 
• IMDB

Hawaii (Argentina 2013)

The Gist:

Martin has returned from Uruguay to his old hometown in Argentina to spend the summer before his job in Buenos Aires begins. Unfortunately through circumstances beyond his control he ends up homeless. While looking for temp work he meets Eugenio, an old childhood friend who is house sitting the home he grew up in while writing a novel. Eugenio offers Martin work and as summer rolls on they reconnect. 

Comments: 

It seems that while many people love the movie and think it excellent, there is a vocal minority who find it dull and pretentious. Some because it takes a calm slower pace to tell its story of two men bonding. I don't agree with this position, but I do understand it. The complaint I don't quite get is from people annoyed that the two leads do not immediately leap on top of each other and play out a "sexing up the hired help" gay porn scenario.

Frankly it's a better movie because of this. Instead of immediate satisfaction, we have the equivalent of fore play. Actually that isn't quite right. The feeling of the movie is more pre-fore play. It's intentionally extending the moment right before you touch a lover for the first time, when everything is possible. So despite not turning into quick and easy porn the movie is still very sensual and filled with sexual intensity and the ache of desire.

If not clear I'm one of the people who love the movie and think it is very good. The acting is excellent, the story interesting, it is well told in use of sound and dialogue and lack of dialogue. The movie does not ignore that things would not be that easy for our protagonists. There are class and socioeconomic issues they need to work through. Eugenio is an experienced upper middle class writer, while Martin, essentially an unemployed immigrant, is very much not. 

It has enough depth that it can handle multiple viewings and I think it's worth trying out. But with the qualifier that it may not be worth it if you can't deal with slower paced movies. 

Women:

Technically yes, though barely. Then again, it's a very minimal cast, little more then the two leads. A two hander as the movie folks call it.

People of Color:

Showing the oddity of this category (or at least the oddity of what exactly Latino can mean) if this were an "American" (i.e. USA) movie, I'd be inclined to count the cast as Latino and say yes. But given the movie is Argentinean, I'd still count the cast as Latino and say no. 

Gratuitous nudity:

There is some slight nudity, but given the way the movie is filmed and the story told, I would argue that it is not gratuitous.

• Director: Marco Berger
• Writer: Marco Berger
• Actors: Manuel Vignau, Mateo Chiarino
• 102 min 
• Spanish (Argentine / South American Spanish, so slightly different than the Spanish most North Americans, at least those of us in California or the Southwest, are used to)
• IMDB