Do you enjoy being transported to the scene? If you answer 'yes, I like to be transported to -say- Wonderland', then you should go somewhere else. This movie develops in the painful, ordinary, real world. Most people will find this movie annoying and somewhat boring. Some of us will regard it as an experience on its own. Rubén's some minister's minder, a bodyguard. His own life must leave room, be replaced by minister's. His life revolves around the minister, must follow him everywhere he goes, must wait for him while he's at work. Does nothing but waiting for him, reminding us of some kind of dog provided with some sort of self-awareness, feeling how left aside he is. His life's worth nothing. And that's where the point of the movie is. The goal is to make you experience his life, to share a piece of such empty existence. Julio Chávez (Rubén, the bodyguard) is a superb actor. I'm impressed by his ability to perform with everything except words. He doesn't need to talk to transmit feelings. And I've recently seen him on stage performing a word-based comedy, and he proved -to me- to be extremely ductile and flexible. He uses every "tool" available for his performance. You're warned. This movie deserves a 9 out of 10 for performance, 9 out of 10 in terms of psychological study. The only thing I didn't like is the final twist of the story. The rest is quite enjoyable. Julio Chávez... you're awesome!
11 Reviews
On the other side.
moimoichan612 April 2007
A narrator with an omniscient and external point of view on a movie is called a heterodiegetic one. He can't participate to the story he tells, for he's not in it, but beside it. The great achievement of "El Custodio" is to adopt this heterodiegetic point of view, and to transform it into a real character, who is the center of the movie, his heart as well as its reason to to exist. But this original point of view also always stays out of the world he lives in, and is excluded from the story he's supposed to be the hero. That's why this movie, certainly the first absolutely heterodiegetic, gives like never the frightful feeling to always stand unseen and at the edge of the world when your work dooms you to the invisible and nonexistence.
The movie is centered on Rubèn, a character unable to occupies the all space because of is function : he is the bodyguard of a Argentine minister, and for that, it seems that he doesn't have the right to exist independently. And the all bet of the movie is to keep this strange heterodiegetic point of view in a realistic way all along. The realism has here a double face : a documentary one and a subjective one. The first one means that we constantly fallow the character in his everyday life, in its absolute routine (fallow the minister, wait for him for hours, buy a new bulletproof vest, etc.). No need to say that this bodyguard doesn't have the life of Aaron Pierce (the bodyguard of President Palmer in "24") and doesn't risk his life everyday. The movie constantly avoid any action scene, because the reality of a bodyguard's life isn't full of action and tension, but full of waiting, humiliation and waist of time.
The second realistic aspect of the movie is apparently in contradiction with this documentary aspect, but is far more important : it's a subjective realism. The all movie is always seen with Rubèn's eyes, and that's where it becomes interesting. You really have the feeling to experience a bodyguard's live, to see through his eyes and to understand his loneliness while watching this movie. This point of view is remarkably developed from the first frame (when you see the first ritual of a long list of rituals to come : Rubèn's shaving in the morning, then dressing with his bullet proof vest...) to the last (absolutely logical, but a little bit predictable), with some experimental cadres, reflections games on mirrors and building glasses and graphic and cold symmetrical constructions.
The all movie is perfectly draft and carries with courage its original theme to its end. And if there's no action in it, the movie is always dense and tense, for the routine that the movie describes can be blown away at any moment. And the terrifying impression of becoming invisible to the very same people you work for and you're supposed to give your life to protect when your function tells you to, remains long after the screening.
The movie is centered on Rubèn, a character unable to occupies the all space because of is function : he is the bodyguard of a Argentine minister, and for that, it seems that he doesn't have the right to exist independently. And the all bet of the movie is to keep this strange heterodiegetic point of view in a realistic way all along. The realism has here a double face : a documentary one and a subjective one. The first one means that we constantly fallow the character in his everyday life, in its absolute routine (fallow the minister, wait for him for hours, buy a new bulletproof vest, etc.). No need to say that this bodyguard doesn't have the life of Aaron Pierce (the bodyguard of President Palmer in "24") and doesn't risk his life everyday. The movie constantly avoid any action scene, because the reality of a bodyguard's life isn't full of action and tension, but full of waiting, humiliation and waist of time.
The second realistic aspect of the movie is apparently in contradiction with this documentary aspect, but is far more important : it's a subjective realism. The all movie is always seen with Rubèn's eyes, and that's where it becomes interesting. You really have the feeling to experience a bodyguard's live, to see through his eyes and to understand his loneliness while watching this movie. This point of view is remarkably developed from the first frame (when you see the first ritual of a long list of rituals to come : Rubèn's shaving in the morning, then dressing with his bullet proof vest...) to the last (absolutely logical, but a little bit predictable), with some experimental cadres, reflections games on mirrors and building glasses and graphic and cold symmetrical constructions.
The all movie is perfectly draft and carries with courage its original theme to its end. And if there's no action in it, the movie is always dense and tense, for the routine that the movie describes can be blown away at any moment. And the terrifying impression of becoming invisible to the very same people you work for and you're supposed to give your life to protect when your function tells you to, remains long after the screening.
Great Movie
nolwd20 May 2007
Well, here again we have a variety of reactions to a movie. I found this film brilliant. Of course it was slow but that was a main point. But boring?..For me, not at all. I acknowledge that others have found it boring, but I most certainly did not. For me, it was a deep insight into our society and the shallowness of some of those in it, and into a man's mind as he is so ignored by it. No-one around him recognizes the humanity under his exterior...and certainly would not expect, understand (or care) about what lead him to implode. It is a brilliantly executed film...in my opinion. The superb acting in the film of the main actor reminds me of the acting of the Secret Policeman in the recent German film, The Lives of Others. ...So much is conveyed by few words and movement..but what emotion there is! I highly recommend both films to readers here.
Bodyguard...
jpschapira5 February 2007
"Extraño" is the name of the film I saw last year with Julio Chávez in the starring role. Directed by Santiago Loza, it followed the life of a mysterious man and the woman he fell in love with. At eighty minutes or so, the picture seemed too pretentious and desperate to achieve its hour and twenty minutes of duration
With a heavy and repetitive piano as the soundtrack, "Extraño" has a lot of similarities with Rodrigo Moreno's "El Custodio".
It's definitely a less pretentious project, but nevertheless risky. It's hard to get people and critics to like this type of contemplative cinema today, mostly in Argentina. Because contemplation is the best word that suits "El Custodio"; a very strong observation of a minister's (Osmar Nuñez) bodyguard's life. This man is Rubén, a character more silent than Chávez' "Extraño" and "Un oso rojo" together.
If you remember well, Rubén was also the name of the actor's role in the latter movie, a fabulous tale by Adrián Caetano. However, this Rubén required more commitment from the genius, because the mesmerizing portrayal is focused on the patience and the body movement almost completely Truly; his character barely speaks.
There we arrive to the director's script, which shows the minister Chávez protects discussing politic issues that we don't even pay attention to; since Moreno's writing is more about the environment than about the situation. To be honest, nothing really deep happens in the movie; everything is routine as the main character's life, except for a visit to a country house, where the minister invites a French politician and asks Rubén (who draws) to make a portrait of him. "Very good", they tell him. "Thank you", he says, and he leaves.
Moreno's direction is also about the environment. The man's picture has the biggest count of still shots I'll probably see this year. The repeated frames of Chávez drinking water and following the minister everywhere got him recognition in the festival of Berlin and a lot of nominations to Argentina's most important awards.
What happened is that Moreno's father in-law became a minister, so he decided to join his bodyguards on their daily activities, filming them. "The bodyguards follow the minister; they don't know where he is going They don't care", Moreno says in a short documentary about "El Custodio". "What happens inside their minds? What do they feel? This is what this movie is about".
The ending is as mythic as the rest of the movie. Something to think about for a while and maybe watch the slow film one more time.
It's definitely a less pretentious project, but nevertheless risky. It's hard to get people and critics to like this type of contemplative cinema today, mostly in Argentina. Because contemplation is the best word that suits "El Custodio"; a very strong observation of a minister's (Osmar Nuñez) bodyguard's life. This man is Rubén, a character more silent than Chávez' "Extraño" and "Un oso rojo" together.
If you remember well, Rubén was also the name of the actor's role in the latter movie, a fabulous tale by Adrián Caetano. However, this Rubén required more commitment from the genius, because the mesmerizing portrayal is focused on the patience and the body movement almost completely Truly; his character barely speaks.
There we arrive to the director's script, which shows the minister Chávez protects discussing politic issues that we don't even pay attention to; since Moreno's writing is more about the environment than about the situation. To be honest, nothing really deep happens in the movie; everything is routine as the main character's life, except for a visit to a country house, where the minister invites a French politician and asks Rubén (who draws) to make a portrait of him. "Very good", they tell him. "Thank you", he says, and he leaves.
Moreno's direction is also about the environment. The man's picture has the biggest count of still shots I'll probably see this year. The repeated frames of Chávez drinking water and following the minister everywhere got him recognition in the festival of Berlin and a lot of nominations to Argentina's most important awards.
What happened is that Moreno's father in-law became a minister, so he decided to join his bodyguards on their daily activities, filming them. "The bodyguards follow the minister; they don't know where he is going They don't care", Moreno says in a short documentary about "El Custodio". "What happens inside their minds? What do they feel? This is what this movie is about".
The ending is as mythic as the rest of the movie. Something to think about for a while and maybe watch the slow film one more time.
The walker
jotix1001 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Ruben, a bodyguard, for Artemio, the minister of planning in Argentina, is a man whose work appears to be waiting incessantly for a man that regards him as an imposed nuisance, a speck of dust on the floor, to put it mildly. In other word, Ruben, even though he is doing a job, what he does is not appreciated by his cold boss. There is never any meaningful exchange of ideas between the men, let alone any semblance of civility toward the man that is perhaps a step above a servant.
This lonely man is constantly pacing outside the rooms where the meetings that demand the minister's presence takes place. He must stay alert, even when the boss is clearly seen with a lover through a window. Ruben's duty include guarding the minister as he entertains in his country estate, where he is seen as an intrusion no one in the household acknowledge. The only time we see any type of conversation involves a visiting foreign couple that are guests in the country. Wanting to impress the visitors, Artemio asks his bodyguard to sketch the visiting friend.
It is made clear just by watching his morning routine that Ruben does not have any life of his own. He lives for his job. We follow Ruben as he visits his sister Beatriz in a hospital. It becomes clear the woman has some mental problems. Ruben, patiently listens to her rant, but never becomes involved in what the woman is saying. Ruben meets with his sister, and niece, and some guests at a Chinese restaurant, where Beatriz is not happy with the table they were given. She wants to move things around, something that exasperates her brother, complicated by the fact she wants her daughter, who has prepared a number, to sing it for her uncle, which she does so bad, no one in his right mind could endure.
The only relief Ruben has is sexual release with a prostitute. He does it through a pimp, we see him following through a commercial gallery. The woman lives at home with her old mother, who is in a separate room as Ruben gets into the apartment. We watch the old woman coming to close the door of her daughter's room, as though she knows what is really going on.
Things come to an unexpected end when Artemio suffers what appears to be a mild heart attack. Taken to a hospital, Ruben, who was reprimanded for not being in his post by one of the minister's aides, must stand guard outside the room. We watch Ruben's accumulated anger get the best of him in a surprising turn we were not even anticipating. Ruben's quest becomes to drive toward the ocean, something he never has experienced.
Rodrigo Moreno the writer-director of "El Custodio" understood perfectly the character of the man at the center of the story. Life has passed Ruben by. He is an ordinary man who suffers from chronic loneliness, which he cannot shake, but in accepting what life has given him, he is ignored, belittled, and treated like dirt by a system that wants only achievers and idols, something which he is not. The anger that has been bottled inside Ruben finally gets the best of him in ways that should not surprise anyone, because one saw it coming all the time.
Getting Julio Chavez to portray Ruben, the director could not have asked for more perfection. Mr. Chavez, one of the best actors from Argentina, gives a masterful performance in a film without dialogue. We only see Ruben talk on a few occasions. The actor clearly understood what his character was going through in the way he looks at the situation at hand. We had greatly enjoyed him in the two seasons of the great series "Epitaphs" one of the best entries in television from Argentina. Osmar Nunez is seen as Artemio in a subdued form. Cristina Villamor has some good moments as Beatriz.
Barbara Alvarez was credited as the cinematographer of the film. She captures the nuances of what Mr. Moreno wanted to show in clear takes that shows a different Buenos Aires than the tourists get to see. Federico Jusid contributed the music score.
This is the first film by Rodrigo Moreno we have seen. One can only wish this talented man a great career in the cinema and perhaps another collaboration with the excellent Julio Chavez is in order.
This lonely man is constantly pacing outside the rooms where the meetings that demand the minister's presence takes place. He must stay alert, even when the boss is clearly seen with a lover through a window. Ruben's duty include guarding the minister as he entertains in his country estate, where he is seen as an intrusion no one in the household acknowledge. The only time we see any type of conversation involves a visiting foreign couple that are guests in the country. Wanting to impress the visitors, Artemio asks his bodyguard to sketch the visiting friend.
It is made clear just by watching his morning routine that Ruben does not have any life of his own. He lives for his job. We follow Ruben as he visits his sister Beatriz in a hospital. It becomes clear the woman has some mental problems. Ruben, patiently listens to her rant, but never becomes involved in what the woman is saying. Ruben meets with his sister, and niece, and some guests at a Chinese restaurant, where Beatriz is not happy with the table they were given. She wants to move things around, something that exasperates her brother, complicated by the fact she wants her daughter, who has prepared a number, to sing it for her uncle, which she does so bad, no one in his right mind could endure.
The only relief Ruben has is sexual release with a prostitute. He does it through a pimp, we see him following through a commercial gallery. The woman lives at home with her old mother, who is in a separate room as Ruben gets into the apartment. We watch the old woman coming to close the door of her daughter's room, as though she knows what is really going on.
Things come to an unexpected end when Artemio suffers what appears to be a mild heart attack. Taken to a hospital, Ruben, who was reprimanded for not being in his post by one of the minister's aides, must stand guard outside the room. We watch Ruben's accumulated anger get the best of him in a surprising turn we were not even anticipating. Ruben's quest becomes to drive toward the ocean, something he never has experienced.
Rodrigo Moreno the writer-director of "El Custodio" understood perfectly the character of the man at the center of the story. Life has passed Ruben by. He is an ordinary man who suffers from chronic loneliness, which he cannot shake, but in accepting what life has given him, he is ignored, belittled, and treated like dirt by a system that wants only achievers and idols, something which he is not. The anger that has been bottled inside Ruben finally gets the best of him in ways that should not surprise anyone, because one saw it coming all the time.
Getting Julio Chavez to portray Ruben, the director could not have asked for more perfection. Mr. Chavez, one of the best actors from Argentina, gives a masterful performance in a film without dialogue. We only see Ruben talk on a few occasions. The actor clearly understood what his character was going through in the way he looks at the situation at hand. We had greatly enjoyed him in the two seasons of the great series "Epitaphs" one of the best entries in television from Argentina. Osmar Nunez is seen as Artemio in a subdued form. Cristina Villamor has some good moments as Beatriz.
Barbara Alvarez was credited as the cinematographer of the film. She captures the nuances of what Mr. Moreno wanted to show in clear takes that shows a different Buenos Aires than the tourists get to see. Federico Jusid contributed the music score.
This is the first film by Rodrigo Moreno we have seen. One can only wish this talented man a great career in the cinema and perhaps another collaboration with the excellent Julio Chavez is in order.
Where's Waldo?
fablesofthereconstru-111 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
She's a terrible singer, the bodyguard's niece, but it's the bodyguard's birthday, and this lamentable frog-voiced serenade is all he's got. Day in, day out, the bodyguard is invisible, a corporeal ghost who's unacknowledged by his boss if there's no breech in security. Sometimes he's hard to pick out in a crowded room. Even the camera is bored with Rueben(Julio Chavez). When the bodyguard wanders out of frame, the camera doesn't follow him. In other scenes, "La Custodian" demonstrates Rueben's lowly position within his employer's envoy through the filmmaker's meticulous compositions of assembled people, in which our protagonist doesn't occupy the center of the, excuse me, but I've got to use this term, mis-en-scene. In elevators loaded up to maximum capacity, in luncheon counters at crowded diners, even in his own bathroom while he shaves, Rueben is obscured by the animate and the inanimate. While waiting for his employer, Rueben smokes a cigarette behind a telephone pole. You can't see him. People can't see him. You see smoke, and where there's smoke, there's a fire. So on his birthday, a day when finally Rueben gets to be the center of attention, the song that's being performed in his honor takes on a particular significance. The birthday tribute validates him. It's no small exaggeration that Rueben's life depends on his niece finishing her song, down to the final missed note. But the restaurant owner instructs the waiters to shut down the karaoke machine. It's bad for business. The niece is awful. Rueben explodes. The performance was a bittersweet experience at best; a mediocre song for a mediocre life, but to add insult to injury, the food service workers deny him this tiny victory. It's the film's turning point.
When Rueben visits a supply shop, he purchases a gun, but a bullet-proof vest, as well, which neutralizes our perception that he's on the offensive. Besides, the gun is a tool of the trade. Although we're not shocked, the pop of the pistol gives off a palpable jolt to the senses when the bodyguard finally turns on his employer. The man he escorts to the bathroom. The man Rueben watches eat lunch at a restaurant while he waits outside in the car. The man whose life Rueben is supposed to protect. The man who never really sees Rueben. As a final irony, in the final seconds of the Minister of Planning's life, Rueben remained invisible to his boss to the very end. Artemio(Osmar Nunez) never saw it coming. He was unconscious at the time.
When Rueben visits a supply shop, he purchases a gun, but a bullet-proof vest, as well, which neutralizes our perception that he's on the offensive. Besides, the gun is a tool of the trade. Although we're not shocked, the pop of the pistol gives off a palpable jolt to the senses when the bodyguard finally turns on his employer. The man he escorts to the bathroom. The man Rueben watches eat lunch at a restaurant while he waits outside in the car. The man whose life Rueben is supposed to protect. The man who never really sees Rueben. As a final irony, in the final seconds of the Minister of Planning's life, Rueben remained invisible to his boss to the very end. Artemio(Osmar Nunez) never saw it coming. He was unconscious at the time.
Real bodyguard
kosmasp21 April 2007
I really tried to like this movie and as IMDb shows here, some others were more successful by doing so than me. Yes this movie has good ideas and yes it is a psychological study of a bodyguard ... you could say a documentary.
And by being or feeling like a documentary it dries you up inside. In other words it gets boring. Why does it get boring? Because the work of a bodyguard is boring. I don't need 20 scenes that tell me, that the life of a bodyguard sucks ... 2 or 3 would've been enough! For me this movie was a waste of time and opportunities ... they could've either created some drama, but more importantly, they could've shortened the movie a lot! Better yet, they should have!
And by being or feeling like a documentary it dries you up inside. In other words it gets boring. Why does it get boring? Because the work of a bodyguard is boring. I don't need 20 scenes that tell me, that the life of a bodyguard sucks ... 2 or 3 would've been enough! For me this movie was a waste of time and opportunities ... they could've either created some drama, but more importantly, they could've shortened the movie a lot! Better yet, they should have!
If Only Life Really Was This Boring
tsasa1987 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
What bugs me more than anything about my job is how everybody I work with views their profession as two to three pay grades below them. They, unknowing or uncaring about the rest of the world who live with dirt floors and without hot showers, feel crushed under the weight of their own disappointment. Why they, special as they are, have to serve coffee is a grand mystery to them because clearly they deserve so much more. And it is that mentality there that drives "El Custodio," a film from Argentina about Ruben, a bodyguard to a politician and emotional ticking time bomb. He too feels entitled to more of life's riches and to have to play tail to a man who truly does live in the lap of luxury only serves to rub his nose in it. Ruben takes his job seriously and yet is a joke to all those around him. His passion for art is turned into a cheap party trick by his owner, and he has to play chauffeur to the politician's daughter while she services her boyfriend in plain view. In other words his job sucks.
This all has a very authentic feel to it. Work is either hard or boring (that is, after all, why they pay you) and here we certainly suffer the latter. However, as it usually is, if you tell a boring story you end up with a boring movie, and that is exactly what we have here. His mundane professional experience is our mundane viewing experience. It is not like the guy is protecting his boss from assassination attempts at the UN, more like carting him around town so that he can spend some quality time with his goomah. Michael Mann has made a career out of showing men at work, but he has yet to capture the true feeling of his audiences work day. Most of us aren't driving a homicidal Tom Cruise around LA in the middle of the night. Here we get realism and that comes with it. There is some subtle humor mixed in, mostly dealing with sex. But the tricks director Rodrigo Moreno plays on us are so mild and inconsequential that they are instantly forgettable.
As we learned many moons ago, when Hollywood does bodyguard movies they can't help but dose the whole thing in sap. We do tag along with Ruben as he takes his whole family out to dinner, and while they are supposed to be funny and/or eccentric they don't come off as any more crazy than your family or mine. Well except for the part where he brandishes a gun, but hey, maybe you're from down South. Romance arrives in the form of a prostitute but even that is handled with stone cold seriousness. Since this is not a Wolfgang Petersen/Clint Eastwood movie don't expect anything as over roasted as a slow mo shot Ruben taking a bullet for his master. Quite the opposite in fact. And even though the film does take a populist turn towards the end I can't forgive them for how much the first 2/3 of it felt like a chore. If you've ever worked in your life you'll feel for this guy, but you will also recognize that most of us swallow our pride every day when we wake up and go off to bake bread, drive cabs, or serve coffee. But apparently poor Ruben was incapable of that. **1/2
This all has a very authentic feel to it. Work is either hard or boring (that is, after all, why they pay you) and here we certainly suffer the latter. However, as it usually is, if you tell a boring story you end up with a boring movie, and that is exactly what we have here. His mundane professional experience is our mundane viewing experience. It is not like the guy is protecting his boss from assassination attempts at the UN, more like carting him around town so that he can spend some quality time with his goomah. Michael Mann has made a career out of showing men at work, but he has yet to capture the true feeling of his audiences work day. Most of us aren't driving a homicidal Tom Cruise around LA in the middle of the night. Here we get realism and that comes with it. There is some subtle humor mixed in, mostly dealing with sex. But the tricks director Rodrigo Moreno plays on us are so mild and inconsequential that they are instantly forgettable.
As we learned many moons ago, when Hollywood does bodyguard movies they can't help but dose the whole thing in sap. We do tag along with Ruben as he takes his whole family out to dinner, and while they are supposed to be funny and/or eccentric they don't come off as any more crazy than your family or mine. Well except for the part where he brandishes a gun, but hey, maybe you're from down South. Romance arrives in the form of a prostitute but even that is handled with stone cold seriousness. Since this is not a Wolfgang Petersen/Clint Eastwood movie don't expect anything as over roasted as a slow mo shot Ruben taking a bullet for his master. Quite the opposite in fact. And even though the film does take a populist turn towards the end I can't forgive them for how much the first 2/3 of it felt like a chore. If you've ever worked in your life you'll feel for this guy, but you will also recognize that most of us swallow our pride every day when we wake up and go off to bake bread, drive cabs, or serve coffee. But apparently poor Ruben was incapable of that. **1/2
Another Argentinian film that copies everything done before...
alomino22223 April 2008
Another Argentinian film that copies everything done before regarding shots and framing. Is like they all come from a film school that shows to the pupils films from the sixties and then, all of them copy here and there a shot. Amazing!. The real Argentinian cinema is Sorin and Agresti, the rest just plays with the ignorance of local film critics and snob festivals. Do this director has something original to offer?? The film is a bore, pretentious in simplicity. The pathetic thing shows that the director just wanted to show how much can copy but have nothing to say, absolutely nothing more than try to jump the leap and become a Fassbinder or any master sadly forgotten. Wake up people, take a look to the old masters and stop being amaze about things that already exist long long time ago.
Movie without heart
ignacio-falcone29 July 2013
This movie has no emotions. No heart. The idea/the story is great, but the movie is not. Most of the Argentinian movies have this problem. The lack of music makes it even more boring and slow. This movie doesn't make you feel any feelings but boredom. i know the actor from other films and he is a great professional, but in this movie is totally wasted. Nobody can declare that he did a great performance. He didn't make any gesture, he didn't even talk. Nothing. The dialogs are simple, dull and poor. In my opinion our taste for movies depend on our own values, culture, upbringing, experiences, etc. Thats why some people love a movie, and some other people don't. But this...this is a bad movie.
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