Daniel Hendler Movies
- 2008
A loser with a successful friend discovers his luck might change as long as he doesn't mind betraying his buddy in this edgy comedy from Argentina. Luciano (Daniel Hendler) is a neurotic and accident-prone children's entertainer who is struggling to launch a career as a screenwriter when he's not fretting about his health. After Luciano accidentally puts his performing partner, Sherman (Martin Feldman), in the hospital, he's unable to do shows for a few weeks and is wondering what to do when his old friend Manuel (Walter Jakob) returns to Buenos Aires for a visit. Manuel is the star of a popular television show in Spain, and he's dating a beautiful woman, Sophia (Jazmin Stuart), who comes along for the ride. Manuel helps Luciano land a writing assignment, but it's uncomfortably obvious he's only helping his pal out of a sense of obligation and doesn't believe in his talent. As Luciano struggles to meet his deadline, Manuel is called away on business for a few days, and Sophia, a stranger in town, spends some time with Luciano while her boyfriend is away. Sophia finds Luciano's eccentricities endearing rather than annoying, and he soon realizes he has the opportunity to steal his friend's lover away. Los Paranoicos (aka The Paranoids) was an official entry at the 2008 Buenos Aires Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Hendler, Jazmín Stuart, (more)
- 2007
Ana Katz's Spanish-language character drama A Wandering Bride (AKA Una Novia Errante, 2007) opens with paramours Ines (Katz) and German (Carlos Portaluppi) entangled in a heated and unpleasant altercation on a bus, en route a romantic vacation at the resort 'Mar de las Pampas.' Impetuously, Ines climbs off the bus at a stop. As it roars away, however, she turns to discover that German is not behind her. Lonely, nervous about the future of their relationship, and suffering from a swollen belly, Ines wanders through the woods, meets a few kind strangers, and learns archery. She then begins a series of increasingly desperate phone calls to German, alternately praising his virtues and branding him a silly coward. With no other option in sight, Ines eventually decides to visit the resort herself, throw her cares aside, and enjoy the vacation independently of German. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ana Katz, Daniel Hendler, (more)
Director Daniel Burman's "Fatherhood Trilogy" draws to a close with this follow-up to Lost Embrace detailing the efforts of a devoted lawyer and teacher to live up to the lofty standards set by his hard working father. Ariel Perelman, Jr. (Daniel Hendler) is a teacher whose widowed father Ariel Perelman, Sr. (Arturo Goetz) maintains a strict daily regimen even in his old age. When Perelman, Jr. marries one of his students following a brief courtship and the couple fast begins forming a family, his wife's departure for a Pilates retreat leaves Perleman, Jr. faced with the daunting prospect of caring for his sixty-five year old father and doing his best to live up the elder Perelman's expectations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Hendler, Julieta Diaz, (more)
Writer and director Manuel Gómez Pereira takes a look at the funny side of same-sex marriage in this farcical comedy. Magda (Carmen Maura) is the manager of a posh resort hotel that is to be the site of a marriage ceremony bringing three gay couples together at once. One of the husbands-to-be is Magda's son Miguel (Unax Ugalde), who will exchange vows with Óscar (Daniel Hendler). However, while things are harmonious between Miguel and Óscar, Óscar's meddling mother, Ofelia (Betiana Blum), is making life miserable for everyone. Narciso (Paco Léon) will be tying the knot with his lover, Hugo (Gustavo Salmerón), but both are having family problems -- Hugo's uptight parents, Helena (Mercedes Sampietro) and Hector (Tito Valverde), aren't sure if they're willing to attend, while Narciso's man-hungry mom, Nuria (Verónica Forqué), threatens to make a spectacle of the ceremony. And actress Reyes (Marisa Paredes) will be on hand to see her son Rafa (Raul Jimenez) marry Jonas (Hugo Silva), who happens to be the son of her gardener Jacinto (Lluís Homar). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Argentinean filmmaker Daniel Burman writes and directs the ensemble film El Abrazo Partido (Lost Embrace), a follow-up to his 2000 feature Waiting for the Messiah. Daniel Hendler plays Ariel, a young man who lives in a Jewish working-class section of Buenos Aires. Since his father went missing in the war, his mother Sonia (Adriana Aizenberg) and brother Joseph (Sergio Boris) work in the shopping and business district. With no interest in school or work, Ariel hangs out and sleeps with Rita (Silvina Bosco). He finally gets the idea to move to Poland, so asks his grandmother (Rosita Londner), ex-girlfriend Estela (Melina Petriella), and Rabbi Benderson (Norman Erlich) for help. Meanwhile, a host of characters make up Ariel's multicultural neighborhood. Cesar Lerner provides the musical score. Lost Embrace won two Silver Bear awards at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Hendler, Sergio Boris, (more)
Directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll co-helm the contemporary black comedy Whisky, set in Montevideo, Uruguay. An exercise in straight-faced humor laced with absurdly funny -- yet instantly recognizable -- characters and situations, Whisky travels into the world of Jacobo (Andres Pazos), the owner and proprietor of a sock factory. Trapped in a prison of day-to-day loneliness, Jacobo finds his world turned onto its ear when his freewheeling, toothy-grinned (and infinitely more successful) brother Herman (Jorge Bolani) comes for a visit. Determined to cloak the extent of his misery, Jacobo recruits his assistant at the sock factory, Marta (Mirella Pascual), to pretend to be his wife. Screened in the United States by the Global Film Initiative, as part of its Global Lens Film Series, Whisky earned rave reviews from the BBC, The New York Times, Variety, and many other esteemed publications. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andres Pazos, Mirella Pascual, (more)
In this edgy psychological thriller from Argentina, Ezequiel (Daniel Hendler) is a handsome but deeply neurotic man in his mid-20s who is studying architecture. Ezequiel is dating Anna (Dolores Fonzi), and one evening, pops by her apartment unannounced to discover a middle-aged man he's never seen before (Gustavo Garzon) is hiding under her bed. Imagining the worst, Ezequiel obsessively follows the stranger for the rest of the night, eventually setting fire to his car and threatening his life. However, there are a variety of explanations for what has happened, and Ezequiel finds that none of them are quite what he expected. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Hendler, Dolores Fonzi, (more)
A handful of young people deal with their personal and emotional tribulations in this teen-centric romantic comedy from Argentina. Laura (Karina Dali) is a woman who has unwittingly stolen the heart of Joaquin (Mariano Martinez), a brash film student, but while he makes plans to woo her, Joaquin has to take care of some other matters first. Joaquin is moving into a new flat, and he and his friends discover just how hard it is to move a piano; meanwhile, he also is drafted into helping his buddy Marcos (Facundo Espinosa) win back his girlfriend, which means lending Marcos his car. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2002
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Distraught over the unexpected suicide of his flight-attendant wife, portly dentist Julian (Alfredo Casero) makes the decision to travel to the Falkland Islands in a despondent bid to end his own life by freezing to death. It seems that fate has other things in store for Julian however, when suicidal air-hostess Teresa (Ingrid Rubio) appears at the same place and the same time revealing similar intentions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfredo Casero, Ingrid Rubio, (more)
Three teenage guys try to figure out what they're supposed to be doing with their lives in this drama from Uruguay that puts the emphasis on character over narrative. Javi has landed a job driving a sound truck that plays the same radio spot for pasta all day long, while his buddy Leche, who is supposed to be studying for his exams, instead finds himself having sexual fantasies about his tutor, and Seba is waylaid by a handful of small-time dope dealers when all he wants to do is go home and watch the porno movie he's just rented. 25 Watts' depiction of misfit teens helped it earn the Youth Jury Prize at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi, (more)
Six people find themselves playing a romantic/sexual game of musical chairs in this quirky comedy-drama. Martin (Daniel Hendler) and Natalia (Mariana Anghileri) are a twentysomething couple who are in mid-argument when Martin accidentally runs into another car. As it happens, the other car was being driven by popular actor Gaston Pauls (playing himself); Gaston and his girlfriend, Andrea (Eva Sola), were en route to an interview with journalist Camila (Camila Toker). Martin tries to sort things out with Gaston, but after Andrea decides she's tired of listening to them, she takes off, and before long Gaston does the same to make his appointment with Camila. Camila, however, is looking for more than a story; she's grown disenchanted with her boyfriend, Leopoldo (Leonardo Murua), and is thinking that a fling with a good-looking movie star might be just what she needs. Meanwhile, Martin still hasn't settled the matter concerning the accident, and Leopoldo happens to make the acquaintance of Natalia. Sabado was written and directed by Juan Villegas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gastón Pauls, Daniel Hendler, (more)
Set in the vibrant Jewish community of Buenos Aires, Daniel Burman's second feature takes a poignant look at the lives of two men. One is a young man who is torn between his devotion to traditional family ties and the desire for something different, the other is an older bank employee who suddenly finds his life in complete turmoil. Santamaria (Enrique Pineyro) is terminated from his steady bank job as the world stock market experiences unpredictable convulsions, and his wife duly takes this development as an opportunity to put him out on the street. Forced to make a paltry living returning stolen wallets, Santamaria finds some hope in the form of a comely bathroom attendant (Stefania Sandrelli), who is waiting for her husband to be released from prison. Meanwhile, Ariel (Daniel Hendler) is chafing against the restraints of a predictable future that will see him take over his elderly father's (Hector Alterio) restaurant and marry a nice Jewish girl (Melina Petriella). Santamaria's and Ariel's stories are told in bits and pieces, contrasted against one another to demonstrate the many parallel universes that can co-exist in the same urban milieu. Esperando al Mesias was shown in competition at the Buenos Aires Independent Cinema Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Héctor Alterio, Chiara Caselli, (more)
