Devil's Point (2006)

The seasoned producer-cum-director Marcelo Pavan helms the moody, deliberately-paced minimalist drama La Punta del Diablo (AKA Devil's Point, 2006). When confronted by the diagnosis of his own inoperable and malignant brain tumor, Argentine neurosurgeon Roberto discovers a heretofore non-existent spiritual connection with Lydia (Prakriti Maduro), one of his cancer patients. Face-to-face with his own transience, Roberto drops out of life, climbs into his car, and begins a lengthy, aimless drive, headed south, out of Buenos Aires. Spotting a woman, Maria (Romina Paula), (who closely resembles Lydia) driving ahead of him on the freeway, he impulsively tails her north, to the small fishing village in Uruguay, Punta del Diablo. Roberto beds down in a shack run by Franco, at which Maria is also residing, and discovers that the two are romantically involved. While Maria drifts away from Franco and toward Roberto - both feeling out and exploring deep-rooted but undeclared emotional connection with one another - Roberto glides deeper into a state of great emotional, psychological and spiritual uncertainty and instability. Meanwhile, the existence of the romantic triangle puts everyone on edge. Throughout the film, helmer Pavan relies heavily on Roberto's ethereal first-person narration and utilizes the rhapsodic "floating" cinematography of Rolo Pulpiero to depict a man drifting into a state of pure existence and introspection while assessing the overall meaning and significance of his life. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi