Adolfo Aristarain Movies

An aging author's life story sets the stage for an look back at the political turmoil and social upheaval of Argentina in the 1950s and '60s in this historical drama from filmmaker Adolfo Aristarain. Acclaimed novelist Joaquín Góñez (José Sacristán) has agreed to write his memoirs, and young Manuel Cueto (Juan Diego Botto) has been hired by his publisher to transcribe his dictation. Cueto, however, soon discovers his job is more complex than imagined; the disillusioned Góñez has been suffering from writer's block, and Cueto must ingratiate himself with the author in order to draw him out. Góñez was raised by a pair of open-minded musicians, and he enjoyed an especially cordial relationship with his mother, Roma (Susú Pecoraro). When his father died, Góñez and Roma were left on their own, and she had a difficult time adjusting to her loss while raising her son. As he grows older and the '50s give way to the '60s, Góñez (now also played by Botto) becomes a bohemian hipster who has quit school to hang out with his girlfriend, Betty (Carla Crespo), and their circle of creatively minded pals. As Góñez begins his life as a writer, he also becomes more aware of politics, and his activist friends soon find themselves roughly handled by the police; as his ideals are challenged and his romantic relationships begin to crumble, Góñez falls into a romance with his best friend's wife, leading to an emotional crisis that leads him back to Roma. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Upon learning that his estranged son in Buenos Aires may have attempted suicide by mixing dog tranquilizers with booze, expatriate Argentine film director Martin immediately leaves Madrid. Upon his arrival in Argentina, he learns that his ex-wife has given up on the aimless, depressive 19-year-old and wants him to contend with the youth back in Spain. Martin agrees, and his son, who is also named Martin, returns with him. Martin, Sr. lives with his cocaine-addicted, much-younger girlfriend Alicia and their mutual friend Dante, a homosexual actor. Though at some level, he cares for both, he is just too emotionally removed to ever show it. It is the same with his son, whom he calls H (pronounced "hache"), meaning hijo or son. Still, each member in the strange family attempts to reach the zombie-like boy, whose only interests seem to be the pursuit of sex and drugs. Essentially an internal drama centered around numerous intense and challenging conversations, this entry from Argentine filmmaker Adolfo Aristarain will most likely appeal to those who love intellectual cinema. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Adolfo Aristarain and Alberto Lecchi wrote this South American western in which sheep-herders battle a ruthless landowner. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

After a hitman assassinates someone involved in financial dirty-dealings, he goes back to the boss who had ordered the killing, and is asked to murder another man "who knows too much." And so the hitman proceeds to spy on his target through a window - and observes him in a sexual relationship with the widow of the man he had just killed. Eventually, he has everything set up for the assassination and when he bursts into the man's apartment, he suddenly finds something totally unexpected that changes everything he had thought up to that moment. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Adolfo Aristarian, the stunning Argentinean director and master of the genre film, offers his take on the crime film with La Parte del Leon. Aristarian betrays his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre in the film's dedication, "To Warner Bros., 1930-1950." The film, like all great crime films, has a simple story told in a brilliant manner, with Aristarian pulling out all the stops. Bruno di Toro is a normal kind of guy, with a job, without a girl, and without a lot of money. One day he stumbles onto a cache of cash which, like anyone would, he pockets. With the money, he makes the scene flashing around town and setting up "business" meetings with corrupt government officials and greedy American businessmen. Before his plans can bear fruit, the "owners" of the money, a group of bank robbers, come after him, bringing heat. Bruno tries to run but his fate is already, inescapably, sealed. Like the Warner Bros. crime films of 1947 to 1953 which created social commentary by drawing parallels between crime and capitalism, this film does the same, but between Argentina's military regime and a social Darwinism of the streets. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi