Apariencias (2000)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Alberto Lecchi

Writers:

Gustavo Belatti (screenplay)
Mario Segade (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 June 2000 (Argentina)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

¿Qué no harías por una mujer? (English translation: What wouldn't you do for a woman?)

Plot:

Carmello, who is 30-years old and extremely shy, finds it difficult to reveal his innermost feelings to Verónica...

Plot Keywords:

Argentina | Man Pretending To Be Gay | Tongue In Cheek Humor | Airport | Mistaken Identity

Cast

Andrea Del Boca	...	Verónica Ortiz
Adrián Suar	...	Carmelo Posse
Rita Cortese	...	Susana Posse
Fernando Siro	...	Orlando Posse
Jorge Rivera López	...	Esteban Ortiz
Lucrecia Capello	...	Elsa Ortiz
Diego Pérez	...	Beto
Favio Posca	...	Iñaqui
Fabián Mazzei	...	Federico
Natalia Lobo	...	Betty
Lidia Catalano	...	Delfina
Rolo Puente	...	Nicosi
Gabriel Correa	...	Blanco
Joselo Bella	...	De Simone
Pablo Ini	...	Samilian

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Argentina

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

Naya Films S.A.

Movie Connections:

Version of Three to Tango (1999)

Soundtrack:

Tormento de amor

Funny, if stereotyping and homophobia don't bother you

This is a film which mass audiences everywhere (well, if it were in English) would like. Its characters are all caricatures the masses can identify with; being the ubiquitous comedy work horses they all are.

The humor is funny, if outdated by most standards of Western Civilization (to which Argentina aspires to belong. It did belong in the 50s, and the mass mentality stayed in that decade too; a fact most of us South Americans, Argentines included, won't dispute). At times, many may actually enjoy the fact political correctness in popular comedies hasn't arrived here yet.

Nevertheless, by Argentine standards, which has never acknowledged gays, other than occasional references as demented anti-social outcasts, this comedy shows some progress is being made in the acceptance of minorities.

This comes albeit belatedly, and at still at least 20 years behind the rest of the world they "belong" to. This is no doubt, due to the country's geographical isolation, lack of non-European immigration (like in North America & Europe), and decades, if not centuries of military rule.

That said, the tag line is "to what extreme would a man go to conquer a woman." In case you are wondering, that extreme is (God forbid!) to pass himself off as gay. That "extreme" being worse than murder, you know what mentality to expect.

The love story is never believable anyway, the gay and elitist issues aside. But the film insists on the gay issue, and this becomes very annoying as every cliche' on the subject from 20 years ago is squeezed for laughs, and every gay character- a screaming queen.

That a brilliant, gorgeous upper-class girl would leave a masculine yet sensitive guy for a low-class screaming queen is quite hard to swallow. Additionally, the guy being dumped is also gorgeous and rich: he's heterosexual, AND he lives in LA! Now, the extreme obsession with anything American is another obnoxious fixture of the film; it is filled with American phrases used to snobbish affect.

So, we are forced to believe that an "apparent" (that's the title of the film)"puto" (the most used word in the film; literally male whore-very nasty word for gay) who is a lower middle class office nerd to boot is irresistible to the near perfect modern woman the film shows us. Preposterous!

This is made even more unlikely in "appearance"-obsessed Argentina by the princess-like lifestyle of the girl contrasting with the crass, working class roots of the male pretender. The mother of the "gay" boyfriend, by the way, sports the filthiest mouth in South America. Her dialogue, though in overkill mode, is one of the most enjoyable things about the movie. It is a veritable anthology of every profane word and expression in the Argentine "porteno" version of Spanish.

So, if you enjoy seeing a contemporary "mainstream" movie comedy with humor that is still (in 2001) chauvinistic, racist, sexist and elitist, this one won't disappoint. It is funny, if you belong to the right circles.