Just for Today (2001) Sólo por hoy (original title)

Director:

Ariel Rotter

Writers:

Lautaro Núñez de Arco
Ariel Rotter

Release Date:

7 June 2001 (Argentina)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

The film is about the stories of Ailí, Morón, Equis, Fer and Toro. They live together in Buenos Aires...

Awards:

5 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Damián Dreizik	...	Toro
Mariano Martínez	...	Equis
Aili Chen	...	Aili
Federico Esquerro	...	Moron
Sergio Boris	...	Fer
Marcelo Mangone	...	Manga
Fernando Cia	...	Productor de publicidad
Carlos Kaspar	...	Dennis
Jessica Bacher	...	Chica de Equis
Sergio Wang	...	Chino
Alejandro Mariani	...	Chef
Isabel Achaval	...	Chica casting
Josefina Viton	...	Chica casting 2
Laura Zelaya	...	Fiona
Ana Mele	...	Mucama hotel
Constantino Cosma	...	Empleado museo
Hugo Guzzo	...	Taxista pension
Ernesto Villegas	...	Hombre casting
Graciela Baduan	...	Mujer padre Moron
Derli Prada	...	Padre Moron
Pablo Farina	...	Cocinero restaurante
Victor Zaragoza	...	Cocinero restaurante
Maximiliano Polatto	...	Cocinero restaurante
Sergio Trinidad	...	Cocinero restaurante
Carmen Renard	...	Señora entrevistada
Hugo Balcone	...	Policia restaurante
Alfredo Balcone	...	Psicologo
Chung Lin Tsai	...	Mujer de chino
Ichin Tsai	...	Hija de chino
Marta Tourn	...	Mujer supermercado
Andrea Pasquini	...	Moza restaurante
Raul Aguirre	...	Puerta disco
Jose Luis Converso
Veronica Hassan
Juan Scrocco
Valeria Sestua
Juan Pablo Sierra
Mariana Swilevitz
Fernanda Motta
Pablo Pérez

Directed by
Ariel Rotter

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lautaro Núñez de Arco
Ariel Rotter

Produced by
Marcelo Rodríguez	....	producer
Mario Santos	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Gustavo Cerati
E. Flavius

Cinematography by
Marcelo Lavintman

Film Editing by
Pablo Giorgelli		(as Pablo Georgelli)

Art Direction by
Aili Chen
Lucia Leschinsky

Set Decoration by
Hugo Guzzo
Federico Varnerin

Makeup Department
Ana Mele	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Hernán Musaluppi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Favio Fischer	....	first assistant director
Celina Murga	....	second assistant director
Juan Villegas	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Paco Alfonsín	....	set designer
Mariana Brik	....	set dresser
Karina Flomenbaum	....	assistant art director
Max Gomez	....	set designer
Micaela Saiegh	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
German Chiodi	....	sound: video unit
Martín Grignaschi	....	sound director
Hernán Hevia	....	boom operator
Martin Litmanovich	....	sound director
David Miranda	....	sound mixer
Fernando Ribero	....	foley artist
Fernando Ribero	....	sound editor
Fernando Ribero	....	sound mixer
Jesica Suarez	....	sound editor
Hernán Sáez	....	sound synchronisation

Camera and Electrical Department
Diego De Garay	....	electrician
Ulises De la Orden	....	camera operator: video unit
Veronica Gentile	....	electrician
José María 'Pigu' Gómez	....	chief gaffer
José María 'Pigu' Gómez	....	electrician
Esteban Herrera	....	electrician
Pablo Jamardo	....	still photographer
Patricio Llados	....	electrician
Sol Lopatin	....	still photographer
Federico Martini	....	second assistant camera
Federico Martini	....	video assist operator
María Milessi	....	electrician
Guillermo Nieto	....	camera operator
Agustin Piñieiro	....	electrician
Roberto Rizzo	....	electrician
Leandro Taboh Acho	....	electrician
Laura Vidal	....	first assistant camera

Editorial Department
Roberto Echegoyenberri	....	assistant editor

Music Department
David Miranda	....	music mixer

Other crew
Micaela Buye	....	production assistant
Martin Coceres	....	assistant: video unit
Diego Flores	....	edition coordinator
Santiago Giralt	....	production assistant
Hernán Musaluppi	....	coordinator
Valeria Perez Delgado	....	production assistant
Sebastian Perillo	....	production assistant
Rodofo	....	caterer

Production Companies

• Universidad del Cine

Distributors

• Distribution Company (Argentina)
• Flax Film (Germany)

Also Known As:

"Sólo por hoy" - Argentina (original title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Argentina

Language:

Spanish | Cantonese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

Universidad del Cine

Desperate

Ariel Rotter's "Sólo por hoy" is among the remains of a promise that the so-called New Argentine Cinema implicitly made and now seems to be fading away. I'm talking about something we can perceive in any film by Pablo Trapero (to name a director that kept the promise, if there really is such thing); something Rotter knows very well and repeated six years later in "El otro": the desperate need of showing the desperate.

"We are what we do every day", says Morón (Federico Esquerro) as we watch the footage he's filmed, to prove a theory that you can know a person by asking them three questions. We never learn, specifically, what these questions are; but we listen to a lot of answer and it becomes clear that Morón is on to something. And isn't everyone?

Rotter's firs film is very important in our cinema because it understands this statement. That everyone's desperate; everyone always wants something more, everyone is waiting for his or her moment even if they seem to be desperately seeking it. There's no need to understand 'desperate' here as something urgent, I'm trying to say. The desperation of "Sólo por hoy" and of many other films after it lives with the contradiction of 'getting through the day'. That's what the title of this movie implies and we can see it in the philosophy of its characters. Furthermore, the film is brilliant because we don't only sense each way of viewing life in the script and the situations, we literally see it in the look of the film, which seems technically made for that purpose.

"Sólo por hoy" exists because of its characters and these are the ones that shape its form and aesthetic. The credits in IMDb don't show it –it looks as if he doesn't exist- because the terms get confused, but the camera of the film was in charge of Guillermo Nieto. This man's hands, I firmly believe, are crucial in the building of the imaginary promise that this film and others share. Isn't it too much of a coincidence that this is probably the first full-length feature in which Nieto worked his camera? His camera is magical, and probably the reason why "Sólo por hoy" is what it is; this meaning the origin of something we don't see much of today.

The director plans it, the camera knows where to stand and the music gives the final touch. Morón's comprehension of everyday life, we see him only during the light of day, with a smile and a sort of paternal way of treating the friends he lives with, which are not few. Equis (Mariano Martínez), a cook with a search of an inner peace and the change of humor and perspective that he suffers with every thing he experiences: a romantic break-up, many revelations, a random encounter. The camera finds his best angle while he looks at the planes in the sky, imagining the future; the music by Gustavo Cerati breathes fully in one beautiful composed moment near the ending.

Toro (Damián Dreyzik), a 28-year-old aspiring actor who works cleaning rooms in a hotel and when asked about it describes it as "touristic cleaning industry"; he is convinced of his greatness but there's a recurrent shot of him laying on his bed, with posters and toys all around him. Maybe he can still get somewhere, unlike Fer (Sergio Boris), Morón's brother who once lost his track and probably will never find it again.

But he wants to; we learn from his voice in off. Everyone has something to say through their voices in off and we listen to it. Everyone but Ailí (Aili Chen). She has already found her peace, and while she may not be convinced about her talent, all that she needs is an impulse; an impulse she looks-for wandering in the night on her motorcycle. And it's finally the night the one that finds all of these people, lost in a confusing series of chords with an electronic music background. People just like you and me? Maybe, but it's not the point...These characters live their own lives and many crucial moments in the movie leave it clear.

This way of making cinema, the explicit use of technique to show the implicit, lost its charm as it became more evident or decided to show different things. The charm can be found in full splendor in "Sólo por hoy", a movie that we must necessarily go back to; a drama that finds his comedic partner in Juan Villegas' "Sábado", where the promise of desperation is less obvious (because of the comedy). At the same time came Trapero's confirmation; Caetano's confirmation, his power and violence; Martel's enchantment; later came Szifrón's intelligence; Di Cesare's combination of elements; Sorín's minimalism and who knows what else. I haven't seen everything.

And maybe I'm inventing a 'promise' I don't know about, but I'm sure about this: the desperation is there, everywhere, with all its complexities.