Ricardo Darín Movies

Juan José Campanella helmed this crime thriller about judicial cover-ups and corruption in Argentina. Ricardo Darín stars as Benjamín, a former criminal court employee who wants to write a novel about an Argentine case from the 1970s in which a woman was raped and murdered. He confides his intentions to a judge with whom he's been secretly smitten for years, Irene (Soledad Villamil), but she expresses reservations about the idea, for reasons that eventually become apparent. Meanwhile, flashbacks set up the central story, unfolding in 1970s Argentina. In that narrative, Argentina has fallen under the control of a military junta and a fair trial has become an increasingly uncommon event in that nation's courts. A woman is found raped and murdered while her husband was at work, and two immigrant workers are essentially forced into confessing to the crime. Benjamín then teams up with his colleague and friend, the lush Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella), and the two go about identifying and tagging the perpetrator of the original crime. Subtle detail in a photograph alerts Benjamin to the possibility that a man named Gómez (Javier Godino) may have been the real culprit, but finding Gómez and obtaining conclusive evidence against him is no simple task. Moreover, as Benjamín and Pablo struggle to have the case reopened, they also find that bureaucracy and power in Argentine government have made this close to impossible. El Secreto de Sus Ojos (aka The Secret in Their Eyes) received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A lonely taxidermist with a photographic memory dreams of committing the "perfect crime" in Nine Queens director Fabián Bielinsky's deliberately paced existential thriller. Espinosa (Ricardo Darín) is an epileptic fortysomething who makes his living by stuffing creatures for the natural history museum in Buenos Aires. It is there that Espinosa meets friend and fellow taxidermist Sontag (Alejandro Awada). After picking up their paycheck at a nearby bank, Sontag kindly invites the lonely Espinosa to join him in the forests of southern Argentina for a brief hunting getaway. Soon after checking into their hotel, Sontag and Espinosa take to nature in hopes of bagging a buck, but their voyage takes a dark turn when, in the grip of another seizure, Espinosa accidentally shoots and kills hotel owner Dietrich (Manuel Rodal). Though his suspicions that Dietrich was involved with some shady dealings seem little more than a means for justifying the tragic turn of events, Espinosa soon realizes that he may be onto something when a pair of thugs named Sosa (Pablo Cedron) and Montero (Walter Reyno) come searching for the missing proprietor. As all of the elements quickly fall into place, it begins to appear as if Espinosa may finally be prepared to execute the crime he has always dreamt about. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Eduardo Milewicz's Sammy Y Yo (Sammy and Me) stars Ricardo Darin as a man going through a mid-life crisis of sorts. Sammy Goldstein (Darin) writes a television show. His downbeat mood has seeped into his recent scripts, causing a decline in the ratings and threatening his job security. Sammy is jealous of his girlfriend who has just had her first novel published. Sammy meets Mary (Angie Cepeda), who is hired as an actress on the show he writes. Sammy falls in love with Mary. Eventually Sammy becomes an actor on the show, but Sammy's life takes a turn for the worse when Mary reveals she has slept with another man. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Argentine filmmaker Fabian Bielinsky makes his directorial debut with this taut crime thriller about a stamp and con artists on the make. The film opens with low-rent hustler Juan (Gaston Pauls) trying to scam the workers in a convenience store when Marcos (Ricardo Darin) steps in to arrest him. In truth, Marcos is veteran con himself and the two split the money after fleeing the scene. Soon after, Marcos asks Juan to be his partner in a series of small-time jobs. When one of the men gets a message from his sister, the two head to the tony hotel where she works. There they try to pull off a big con that was initially planned by an aging criminal too ill to do it. The swindle centers around a fantastically accurate forgery of a rare stamp called the Nine Queens. As the two doggedly try to set up the deal, mobsters and the like learn of the job and try to horn in. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Six men escape from an Argentinean prison and meet wildly different fates in this episodic drama. One of the escapees never makes it into the outside world; Belisario Zacarias (Oscar Alegre) gets caught in the tunnel they've dug to make their way out of lockup, and his friend Omar Zajur (Vando Villamil) initially refuses to leave him behind, though he soon joins the group, and pays a call to La Varela (Norma Alendro), Zacarias' girlfriend. Tomas Opitti (Alejandro Awada), the ringleader of the group, was a leftist political activist arrested on false charges, and he sets out to get even with Duval (Patricio Contreras), the official who framed him. Domingo Santalo (Ricardo Darin) is a gambler who soon finds himself in a high-stakes card game with master poker player Victor Gans (Facundo Arana), arranged by mob boss Pedro Escofet (Arturo Maly); Santalo also renews a very dangerous romance with Tabita (Ines Estevez), Escofet's wife. Julio Bordiola (Gerardo Romano) is a luckless loser whose lovely wife Rita (Antonella Costa) is sleeping with Ledeyra (Juan Ponce de Leon); he often wonders just why Rita ever married him, and when he learns the answer, it proves to be more than he can stand. And Laureano Irala (Miguel Angel Sola) has nowhere in particular to go, and when the escapees emerge in the coal shed of an old man named Villalba (Manuel Andres), his wife is so frightened that she drops dead. Villalba was sworn vengeance against the jailbirds, but a sympathetic Irala ends up moving in with him, posing as a long lost relative. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When a family is involved in a devastating car accident on a dark and lonely highway, the two young surviving sisters face an uncertain future in director Eduardo Mignogna's Goya-winning drama. With only each other to rely on, Aetna and Carmela travel across Uruguay as they try to salvage the remains of their family and find their place in society. Setting out from their hometown of Villa Victoria to pass through Colonia and Montevideo, the pair eventually end up in San Ignacio, where older sister Carmela falls for the charming young Andy. Her happiness turns to heartbreak, however, when Andy reveals his true sexual preference to Carmela, abruptly ending any chance for a long-term relationship. As Carmela's frustration manifests itself in an overprotective streak, the sisters begin to drift apart, leaving the once-close siblings to fend for themselves in an unforgiving world. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this Argentine caper drama tells the story of a salesman who finds himself in the middle of an insurance scam to help him pay his bills. Ernesto is a salesman who is plagued by debt and by Argentina's inflation. In desperation he gets advice from Perotti, a loan shark. It is he that suggests that Ernesto file a stolen car claim for his car. Things go well until Mattesutti, an ex-cop working for the insurance company investigates the claim. Mattesutti soon finds that Pierotti is involved with many big time white-collar criminals. Pierotti's boss is a crooked industrialist whose schemes include shady real estate deals, and insurance scams. Mattesutti then uses blackmail to force Ernesto into helping him catch Pierotti's boss. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gangsters try to overcome the new owner of a discotheque in this one-dimensional action film about a man trapped by circumstances into fighting the underworld, circumstances that also lead to an involvement with the former lover of his dead friend (the original owner of the disco). As good and evil pair off, several steamy bedroom scenes add their own dimension to a cinema that was just emerging from two decades of harsh censorship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi