News

In 2020 – for the first time in seven years – the Best Supporting Actress Oscar category saw a lone nomination, meaning that a film was recognized there and nowhere else. This achievement is attributed to Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”), who competed for no major precursors except the Golden Globe but still managed to bump Critics Choice, SAG, and Globe nominee Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”). Perhaps unsurprisingly given the length of the streak she broke, there has yet to be a lone contender in any of her category’s subsequent lineups.

Since the introduction of the two gendered supporting Oscars in 1937, there have been 57 female lone nominees and 54 male ones, with over half of the entrants on the former roster having been added before 1977. The one who directly preceded Bates was Helen Hunt, whose inclusion in her lineup was much more heavily predicted. Coincidentally, both women had the perceived advantage of being former Best Actress champions,...

On the eve of Annecy’s MIFA market, Argentina’s National Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (Incaa) has announced that it will launch three regional animation schools as it proclaims animation a strategic growth sector.

Forming part of Incaa’s Enerc federal film school system, currently headquartered in Buenos Aires, the new animation training facilities will be based in Mar del Plata, already home to Latin America’s only “A” grade film festival, as well as Santa Fe’s Rosario and Patagonia’s Comodoro Rivadavia. The film school’s will focus on 3D animation and new technologies.

In a first move, Argentina’s Incaa is setting up a new Animation and New Technologies division, headed by Silvina Cornillón, the driving force behind the explosive growth of Ventana Sur’s Animation! from its launch in 2016. In the space of five editions, organized in collaboration with Annecy’s MIFA market. Animation! has...

by Cláudio Alves

One of the nominees from this Thursday's Supporting Actress Smackdown likely got her nomination due to thee Oscar buzz she had earned from a previous performance. While it was Gaby: A True Story that made Norma Aleandro an Academy Award nominee in 1987, it was her performance in 1985's The Official Story that put her name on Hollywood's lips. That Best Foreign Language Film winnere remains the crown jewel in the Argentinian actress' hallowed career...

Have You Watched The Smackdown Movies Yet?

Coming Thursday, November 19th

Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1987

Fatal Attraction (feat. Anne Archer)

Free on Amazon Prime or HBO Max or Tubi (with ads)

Gaby A True Story (feat. Norma Aleandro)

Free on YouTube

Moonstruck (feat. Olympia Dukakis) 

Free on Showtime or Hoopla / Rent from Amazon

Throw Momma From the Train (feat. Anne Ramsay)

Free on Amazon Prime, Hoopla, or Roku (with ads)

The Whales of August (feat. Ann Sothern)

Free on Hoopla / Rent from Amazon

You have one final week to watch (or rewatch) the movies! Please send in your votes (1 to 5 hearts for each supporting actress nominee) by Tuesday, November 17th with "1987" in the subject line. 

But even if you can't squeeze in those five movies this coming month, we sincerely hope you've enjoyed this super-sized season! It's so much work but we love doing it. Here are all the episodes...

Panama City — Argentine actor Ricardo Darin, currently attending the 8th Iff Panama for the fest’s opening film, “An Unexpected Love,” is prepping a new film, “Heroic Losers,” (La Odisea de los Giles) about an agricultural cooperative in Argentina in 2001, to be directed by Sebastián Borensztein, with whom Darin previously worked on “Koblic” (2016) and “Chinese Take-Out” (2011).

“Love” was the first production from Darin’s new production shingle, Kenya Films, founded in 2018 with his son, Chino Darin.

“Heroic Losers” is their second production. The film is about a group of people from a chic neighborhood of Buenos Aires, who have an idea to create an agricultural cooperative, in 2001, at a very difficult moment in Argentine history, with rampant inflation and banking controls.

Darin plays a retired ex-football player who lives in a small town near Buenos Aires, Villa Alsina, who has the original idea to create the cooperative. Darin explained at...

“Roma” scored two surprising Oscar nominations Tuesday in two of the biggest categories: Yalitza Aparicio in Best Actress and Marina de Tavira in Best Supporting Actress. The dual acting bids make Aparicio and de Tavira, both Mexican, two of the few Latina actresses to be shortlisted by the academy.

Aparicio is just the fourth Latin American to be nominated in Best Actress, following Fernanda Montenegra, Salma Hayek and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Aparicio is just the second Mexican nominee after Hayek. None of the first three won.

See Oscar nominations: See the full list of nominations

There have been a few more Latina nominees in Best Supporting Actress. De Tavira joins Katy Jurado, Rita Moreno, Norma Aleandro, Adriana Barraza, Berenice Bejo and Lupita Nyong’o. Jurado, Barraza and Nyong’o are all Mexican-born, and Moreno and Nyong’o are the only winners.

See ‘Roma’ and ‘The Favourite’ reign over Oscar nominations with 10 apiece

Aparicio,...

Buenos Aires — In a return to film production after serving as president of Argentina’s National Institute of Film and the Audiovisual Arts (Incaa) and then as a member of parliament, film producer Liliana Mazure is teaming with prestigious counterparts in Mexico and Brazil on a three-part, pan-regional dark comedy, “Mental Health Not Included.”

Lead produced by Mazure’s Arca Difusión in Argentina, Laura Imperiale’s Cacerola Films and Carlos Sosa’s Viento del Norte in Mexico and Beto Rodrigues Panda Filmes in Brazil, “Mental Health” will be directed by Martin Salinas, writer of 2003 Diego Luna starrer “Nicotina” and writer-director of the Diamond-distributed and then Netflix-released “Ni un hombre más,” with Valeria Bertuccelli.

Also written by Salinas, “Mental Health Not Included” kicks in with the president of the United States, Donald Cramp, announcing an end to international trade: the U.S. will henceforth function as a self-sufficient economy. He...

Oscar-nominated Argentine actress Norma Aleandro will add her voice to “The Paradise” (El Paraiso), a noirish 2.5D animated feature directed by Federico Moreno Breser. Produced by Fernando Sirianni’s Nomad VFX, the project will take part in the Animation! Pitching Sessions in Ventana Sur this week.

Set in 1920s Rosario – a city known as the “Argentine Chicago” – “The Paradise” is the story of Magdalena and Anna Scilko, immigrant sisters who arrive from Poland with hopes for a new future. But the duo unwittingly fall into the hands of the Warsaw Clan, a ruthless crime syndicate that controls the largest prostitution ring in the city, setting off a story of love, revenge and betrayal, told in an arresting hybrid of 2D and 3D animation styles.

As a storyteller, Breser said he was inspired by his grandfather, who used to regale the director with colorful tales about the Rosario of his youth...

Political terror hits home, as a Buenos Aires teacher and housewife discovers that her family life is not only a lie, it’s a lie grounded in government treachery and murder. Forget conspiracy foolishness, for Luis Puenzo’s Oscar-winning tale is based on solid, documented truth, with an American connection. This is one of the first of the modern filmic political exposés from Latin America.

The Official Story

Blu-ray

The Cohen Collection

1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / La historia oficial / Street Date October 9, 2018 / 25.99

Starring: Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro, Chunchuna Villafañe,

Hugo Arana, Guillermo Battaglia, Chela Ruíz.

Cinematography: Félix Monti

Film Editor: Juan Carlos Macías

Original Music: Atilio Stampone, María Elena Walsh

Written by Aída Bortnik, Luis Puenzo

Produced by Marcelo Piñeyro

Directed by Luis Puenzo

In 1986, Luis Puenzo’s film The Official Story won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. A few years earlier, any...

This article marks Part 6 of the 21-part Gold Derby series analyzing Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

In 1984, after making three consecutive appearances in Best Actress at the Academy Awards, Meryl Streep was a no-show on nominations morning for her turn opposite Robert De Niro in “Falling in Love.” The odds of a Streep return to the ceremony looked strong, however, in 1985. Two projects were lined up, both awards-caliber on paper.

The first of these two projects landed with a whimper that September. “Plenty,” directed by acclaimed Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi, with a screenplay by David Hare, cast Streep as an Englishwoman searching for fulfillment in life after serving with the French Resistance in World War II. While the film has its passionate defenders to this day,...

On Mubi Off is a column exploring two films: one currently available on Mubi in the United States, and the other screening offsite (in theaters, on VOD, Blu-ray/DVD, etc).On MUBIThe Official Story (Luis Puenzo, 1985)My instinct to stand, whenever possible, slightly outside the zeitgeist leads me to look askew at things like the Academy Awards. To my mind, they're a good excuse to have a party (heavily attended, so I can pay that much less attention to the ceremony itself), though I realize they have a certain fleeting cachet that can boost the prospects of a film or a career. As a metric of quality, however, they're about as worthless as any mass-consensus accolade. I love Oscar-feted films like The Silence of the Lambs and Schindler's List—to name two stopped-clock cases where AMPAS's tastes corresponded to my own—despite and not because of the number of nude...

Section to also include celebrations of Ingrid Bergman and Orson Welles as well as screenings of The Terminator and Jurassic Park 3D.

Costa-Gavras has been named guest of honour at this year’s Cannes Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).

The Greek-French film director and producer won the Palme d’or with Missing in 1982, was member of the jury in 1976 that crowned Taxi Driver and picked up the award for best director with Section spéciale in 1975.

The filmmaker will be present for a screening of Z, which won the jury prize in 1969, and has had the original negative scanned in 4k and restored frame by frame in 2K, supervised by Costa-Gavras.

Orson Welles

Marking 100 years since the birth of Orson Welles, Cannes will screen restorations of films from the legendary Us actor, director, writer and producer, who died in 1985.

The titles include his staggering debut Citizen Kane (1941), which has received a 4k restoration completed...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of '64 is just 8 days away. So it's time to get your votes in on the nominees that year. Readers, collectively, are the sixth panelists, so grade the nominees (only the ones you've seen) from 1 to 5 hearts. Your votes count toward the smackdown win!

Lila Kedrova Zorba the Greek Gladys Cooper for My Fair Lady Dame Edith Evans The Chalk Garden

Agnes Moorhead Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte

Grayson Hall Night of the Iguana

But before we here at Tfe get to that particular metaphorical musical-horror mishmash of films with one of the most senior lineups the Academy ever offered up in this category, let's meet our panelists for this 50th anniversary retrospective competition.

The Panel

Special Guest

Melanie Lynskey

Melanie Lynskey is an actor from New Zealand. She made her film debut in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994) and is currently starring in Joe Swanberg's...

Witches of Eastwick 25th anniversary week ends this weekend. I intended to do much more but we'll see what little can be conjured still.

Cherries, Oatmeal, Satan and her weak husband just make her sick!

Film Experience Trivia: Veronica Cartwright was the star of the very first episode of Craig's "Take Three" series right here (well, at the old location) in 2010. He spotlighted her work in three genre pieces (Alien in which she was originally cast as Ripley (!!!) , Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Witches of Eastwick) concluding that she is the sci-fi-horror scream queen. On Witches:

Cartwright's skill at creating profoundly memorable characters is none more evident than in Witches: you see the very bile rise up in Felicia's face; she vehemently means every word in her religious rants, summoning up as she does some kind of wicked, wrathful acting goddess. With cherry-scented vomit (or even hospital oatmeal) smeared ungainly across her mouth,...

Julianne Moore, Far from Heaven For decades, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards have been considered a precursor of the Academy Awards. Movies, performers, directors — and later cinematographers and screenwriters — singled out by the Nyfcc usually have gone on to receive Oscar nominations, oftentimes the golden statuette itself. The New York critics awards also have the reputation of being "snooty" and "artsy." Are they? When it comes to serving as a precursor of the Academy Awards, the answer would have to be a resounding Yes despite a number of Nyfcc winners eventually bypassed by (most of) the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters. As for the Nyfcc's "artsy" choices … Well, that depends on your idea of "artsy." If choosing John Ford's box-office disappointment The Informer as Best Film of 1935 makes the New York critics artsy, then they were. If selecting a couple of non-Hollywood British actresses (Celia Johnson,...

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady New York Film Critics Awards 2011 Predictions: Shame, Terrence Malick? The New York Film Critics Circle's Best Actress race is tough to predict. The only (extreme) likelihood is that the winning actress will be singled out for an English-speaking role. The last actress to win in New York while delivering dialogue in a language other than English was Norma Aleandro back in 1985, when the Argentinean performer took home the Best Actress Award for The Official Story. (And some insist on calling the Academy narrow-minded and provincial when compared to the New York critics…) My bet for this year's winner is Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, even though Streep won two years ago for Julie & Julia. She's a veteran, she's brilliant, she deserves a third Academy Award. It didn't work in 2009 — when Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for the blockbuster The Blind Side — but it may...

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Chicago – Although “City of Your Final Destination” is not the latest installment of the Rube Goldberg-inspired splatter series, it does seem to be populated with the walking dead. The only similarity shared between the “Final Destination” franchise and this picturesque drama is an overwhelming abundance of tedium, generated by a plot that often seems as stagnant as its listless characters.

In his heyday, director James Ivory made one wonderful, timeless movie after another. His collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant lasted over four decades. The filmmaking duo proved that sophisticated, proudly literate dramas like “A Room With A View,” “Howard’s End” and “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge” could find a wide international audience. Their films were understated, deliberately paced and novelistic but never dull. It was exhilarating to observe the subtle, wordless attraction between Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in 1993’s “The Remains of the Day,” which still stands as...

Screen Media is planning a March limited theatrical release of James Ivory's "The City of Your Final Destination" reports Variety.

Based on Peter Cameron's 2002 novel and adapted by Ruth Jhabvala, the story follows a young American academic, who attempts to persuade the reluctant heirs of a celebrated Uruguayan novelist to allow him to write an authorized biography of the writer.

Anthony Hopkins portrays the writer's brother and Laura Linney plays the writer's widow. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Omar Metwally, Alexandra Maria Lara, Norma Aleandro and Hiroyuki Sanada also star.

Paul Bradley and Pierre Proner produced the Argentina-shot flick which marks Ivory's first effort since the passing of longtime producing collaborator Ismail Merchant.

A Note: I will be returning to reviewing Streep movies soon but for now let's return to discussing Streep's competitive Oscar fields. I'll try to wrap up the 80s pictures very soon. I knew this month would be Streep heavy I had no idea how mired down in the 80s nostalgia we'd get. See also: Farrah & Michael Jackson.

1985

Six Oscar nominations is a lot for anyone but what is perhaps even more impressive / serendipitous about Meryl Streep's 1985 accomplishment is that Out of Africa, a big hit and Oscar champ, was her third Best Picture winner in seven years. That's quite rare. She would go on to lose Best Actress to Geraldine Page who was, at that time, the most nominated performer (8) never to have won the golden boy (Peter O'Toole now holds the record since he lost on his 8th nomination). Page died a scant 15 months later at 62 years of age.

• Meeting your significant other’s family for the first time – a situation that is a both a landmark moment in a relationship, and also a test of sorts as to the strength of the relationship. It is a landmark moment because it means that you are taking the relationship seriously enough to be meeting your significant other’s family. And it is a test of the relationship’s strength because the situation is awkward for all parties involved – your significant other, his or her family, and you. You want to make a good impression on the family. The parents want to make a good impression on you; after all, if the relationship is a success you may be a new addition to the family. And your significant other, your girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, whatever you prefer to call them, wants his or her family to approve of you, to be

...

PARK CITY -- The small, well-acted chamber drama is a genre that has virtually disappeared from American screens, which is too bad when you see one as accomplished as "Live-in Maid". Powered by two first-rate performances, Jorge Gaggero's debut feature is full of psychological nuance and keen social observation. It's an impressive feat and one that should find an audience in art houses worldwide.

Set in Buenos Aires, film focuses on the intertwined lives of the haughty bourgeois Beba (Norma Aleandro) and Dora (Norma Argentina), her maid of thirty years. Living in close quarters for so long, they have become like husband and wife or best friends, though neither of them would acknowledge it. As the Argentine economy has tumbled, Beba's fortunes have fallen to the point where she can't pay her bills, drinks heavily and owes Dora seven months salary. The first desperate scene of the film in which Beba is trying to pawn a near worthless piece of China perfectly sets the stage.

Gaggero creates a leisurely pace, not rushing the storytelling but allowing details to be revealed by the characters as the film goes along. Beba meets with a man (Marcos Mundstock) to borrow money and only later do we learn it's her brother. A crucial piece of information about her grown daughter, who has moved away to Madrid and clearly wants nothing to do with her mother, doesn't come into focus until late in the film. The truth of these lives lies in the little details..

Aleandro, a star in Argentina for thirty years and perhaps best known internationally for her leading role in "The Official Story" fifteen years ago, magically makes us care about the decline of an unsympathetic person. Aleandro allows us to see the character's sadness and unexpressed feelings as they flicker across her face. She may be a monster but she's also human.

Argentina is equally as good but had never acted before. Gaggero found her at an open call for women who had been maids. She seems to instinctively understand her character and the class difference between Dora and Beba.

The two actors work beautifully together. Dora is so used to indulging Beba that she knows just when to fill the expensive whiskey bottles with the cheap stuff for guests. Still, Dora is hurt when Beba gives her some makeup samples and later discovers her ulterior motives. Beba, like many of the idle wealthy, has only one thing on her mind--herself. Hard times do soften her some and the final scene reflects a touching if reluctant change in status.

Although most of the action takes place in Beba's small apartment, Gaggero has the ingenuity to make it visually striking (cleverly shot by Javier Julia). One shot in particular, where the two women go to the hairdresser together and sit side by side under hairdryers reading magazines, is visual storytelling at its best. With the use of a non-professional in one of the leads, "Live-in Maid" has the feel of Italian neo-realist cinema and the naturalness of the French new wave. Gaggero does not even use any music because he felt this was a film of little sounds and silences. When is the last time you heard silence in a movie?

LIVE-IN MAID

Aqua Films production

Credits:

Director: Jorge Gaggero

Writer: Gaggero

Producers: Veronica Cura, Anton Reixa, Diego Mas Trelles

Executive producer: Cura

Director of photography: Javier Julia

Production designer: Marcela Bazzano

Costume designer: Marisa Urruti

Editor: Guillermo Represas.

Cast:

Beba: Norma Aleandro

Dora: Norma Argentina

Victor: Marcos Mundstock

Miguel: Raul Panguinao

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 83 minutes...

Pantagonik Film Group

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The magnificent Norma Aleandro plays the title character in this feel-good Argentine road movie that will be particularly appealing to female audiences. As Cleopatra, a dissatisfied older woman who embarks on a life-changing drive from Buenos Aires to the Andes in the company of a younger soap opera actress, Aleandro gives an atypically buoyant performance that is as endearing as it is often hysterically funny. A huge hit in its native country, "Cleopatra" recently received a rousing reception at is U.S. unveiling at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cleopatra, so named because her father ran a repertory theater company and was in love with the classics, is a retired schoolteacher whose 37-year marriage to her unemployed, depressed husband (Hector Alterio) has hit a definite rut. Now selling cosmetics door-to-door, Cleopatra has long given up her dreams of being an actress, but when the chance comes up to audition for a soap opera, she impulsively grabs it, only to disastrously freeze like a stone in the process.

She does, however, meet the gorgeous Sandra (Argentine soap star Natalia Oreiro), who is at a similar crossroads in her life. Her career micro-managed by her domineering husband (Boy Olmi), Sandra is fed up with the demands of stardom and longs for anonymity. Striking up a quick friendship with Cleopatra, she impulsively cuts her trademark luxurious hair and sets out on a road trip with the older woman. This results in a series of predictable but entertaining adventures, most notably Sandra's budding romantic relationship with a hunky cattleman who has no idea of her fame.

While the screenplay (co-written by director Eduardo Mignogna and Silvina Chague) is fairly rudimentary in its themes, it does provide a marvelous vehicle for the two actresses, who play beautifully off each other. Aleandro, best known in the U.S. for her harrowing Oscar-nominated role in "The Official Story", is a delight as Cleopatra, her most priceless moment being a lengthy single-take scene in which she delivers hilarious body language while joyfully singing along with the car radio. She's also particularly effective in the scenes in which she talks directly to the camera, well demonstrating her ability to establish a rapport with the audience. The beautiful Oreiro, clearly enjoying her co-star's comedic antics, manages to hold her own and infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.

The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.

As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.

Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.

Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".

THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION

Buena Vista Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Credits:

Director: Simon Wincer

Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg

Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley

Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall

Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Director of photography: Reed Smoot

Production designer: Paul Peters

Music: William Ross

Costume designer: Jo Katsaras

Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe

Cast:

Neera: Biana G. Tamimi

Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus

Aden: Patrick Elyas

Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf

Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri

Kadir: Andries Rossouw

MPAA rating: G

Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters

Michael: Marc John Jefferies

Megan: Aree Davis

Running time -- 88 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

It's not too early to start anticipating that this outstanding Argentine-Spanish co-production will be one of the Academy Award nominees for foreign film. Close to perfection in every regard, provoking more laughs and tears than all the films one sees in any given season combined -- and a movie that would make such masters as Frank Capra and Billy Wilder proud -- "Son of the Bride" (El Hijo de la Novia) earned the Special Grand Prix of the Jury award in main competition at the World Film Festival of Montreal (HR 9/4).

Director and co-writer Juan Jose Campanella worked for much of the past decade in the United States in television and won two Emmy Awards for directing. He co-wrote the screenplay of "Son" with Fernando Castets after the pair collaborated on Campanella's 1999 feature "Same Love, Same Rain". While the Spanish-language "Son" has strong appeal to mature audiences, a smart domestic distributor could take it on the art house circuit, where the film could achieve a resounding success.

Rafael (Ricardo Darin) is a 42-year-old restaurant owner and divorcee who wants to change his life. Always on his cell phone dealing with work problems, he's got a beautiful girlfriend (Natalia Verbeke) and a loyal staff, but money problems and pressures to sell his business are taking a toll. He has a young daughter who lives most of the time with his ex-wife, while his aging father, Nino (Hector Alterio), who started the restaurant Rafael took over, is a gentle, supportive soul.

The title refers to Nino's desire to grant the decades-long wish of his wife, Rafael's mother (Norma Aleandro), who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, to have a church wedding. In scene after exquisite scene one gets to knows these characters and sympathize with them. Rafael is a man in crisis who does not judge others and does not blame the world for his problems. But he's also not always aware of how much love and support he has to help him get to the next stage of life.

When he has a heart attack but recovers to nearly his former energetic self, Rafael decides he needs more "freedom" and sells the restaurant, while also contemplating a move to Mexico. Fortunately, those around him, including a childhood friend-turned-actor (Eduardo Blanco), are not altogether behind him, and the lead makes the best of what he's already got.

From the constant stream of little jokes and bittersweet moments involving his parents, work and the women in his life to the unabashedly emotional peaks, Rafael's story is so uncommonly rendered with cinematic skill that it frankly leaves one delirious with admiration. The cinematography, music, editing and, most of all, the performances cannot be praised too much.

SON OF THE BRIDE

Pol-ka Prods., Patagonik Film Group

Jempsa, Tornasol Films

Director: Juan Jose Campanella

Screenwriters: Juan Jose Campanella, Fernando Castets

Producers: Adrian Suar, Fernando Blanco

Director of photography: Daniel Shulman

Production designer: Juan Vera

Editor: Camilo Antolini

Music: Angel Illaramendi

Color/stereo

Cast:

Rafael: Ricardo Darin

Nino: Hector Alterio

Norma: Norma Aleandro

Juan Carlos: Eduardo Blanco

Naty: Natalia Verbeke

Running time -- 123 minutes

No MPAA rating...

Pantagonik Film Group

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The magnificent Norma Aleandro plays the title character in this feel-good Argentine road movie that will be particularly appealing to female audiences. As Cleopatra, a dissatisfied older woman who embarks on a life-changing drive from Buenos Aires to the Andes in the company of a younger soap opera actress, Aleandro gives an atypically buoyant performance that is as endearing as it is often hysterically funny. A huge hit in its native country, "Cleopatra" recently received a rousing reception at is U.S. unveiling at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cleopatra, so named because her father ran a repertory theater company and was in love with the classics, is a retired schoolteacher whose 37-year marriage to her unemployed, depressed husband (Hector Alterio) has hit a definite rut. Now selling cosmetics door-to-door, Cleopatra has long given up her dreams of being an actress, but when the chance comes up to audition for a soap opera, she impulsively grabs it, only to disastrously freeze like a stone in the process.

She does, however, meet the gorgeous Sandra (Argentine soap star Natalia Oreiro), who is at a similar crossroads in her life. Her career micro-managed by her domineering husband (Boy Olmi), Sandra is fed up with the demands of stardom and longs for anonymity. Striking up a quick friendship with Cleopatra, she impulsively cuts her trademark luxurious hair and sets out on a road trip with the older woman. This results in a series of predictable but entertaining adventures, most notably Sandra's budding romantic relationship with a hunky cattleman who has no idea of her fame.

While the screenplay (co-written by director Eduardo Mignogna and Silvina Chague) is fairly rudimentary in its themes, it does provide a marvelous vehicle for the two actresses, who play beautifully off each other. Aleandro, best known in the U.S. for her harrowing Oscar-nominated role in "The Official Story", is a delight as Cleopatra, her most priceless moment being a lengthy single-take scene in which she delivers hilarious body language while joyfully singing along with the car radio. She's also particularly effective in the scenes in which she talks directly to the camera, well demonstrating her ability to establish a rapport with the audience. The beautiful Oreiro, clearly enjoying her co-star's comedic antics, manages to hold her own and infuses her often-volatile character with a surprising degree of sympathy.

The episodic story line loses steam along the way, and not all of the plot elements -- such as Cleopatra's poignant reunion with an old lover -- are as well developed as they should be. But most filmgoers will be more than happy that they went along for the ride.the movie's climax.

As one can see from this synopsis, characters and story are woefully thin. Even the villains (Gerard Rudolf, Ali Al Ameri) do little more than furrow their brows. The movie exists for its splendid vistas and the final horse race. These elements do justify "Stallion", but if the Mouse wants to pursue Imax features, much more dramatic meat will have to go into the storytelling.

Young Tamini, who has ridden horses virtually all her life, makes a credible heroine even though little is asked of her as an actress. The other actors are stranded by the weak dramatic material.

Production designer Paul Peters and costume designer Jo Katsaras give the film a Moroccan feel. William Ross' score also is a plus, though it contains more than a hint of Maurice Jarre's musical themes from "Lawrence of Arabia".

THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION

Buena Vista Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Credits:

Director: Simon Wincer

Screenwriter: Jeanne Rosenberg

Based on the book by: Walter Farley and Steven Farley

Producers: Fred Roos, Frank Marshall

Executive producers: Jeanne Rosenberg, Kathleen Kennedy

Director of photography: Reed Smoot

Production designer: Paul Peters

Music: William Ross

Costume designer: Jo Katsaras

Editors: Bud Smith, Terry Blythe

Cast:

Neera: Biana G. Tamimi

Ben Ishak: Richard Romanus

Aden: Patrick Elyas

Rhamon: Gerard Rudolf

Mansoor: Ali Al Ameri

Kadir: Andries Rossouw

MPAA rating: G

Running time -- 51 minutesG-13>Emma: Dina Waters

Michael: Marc John Jefferies

Megan: Aree Davis

Running time -- 88 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

MADRID -- Spanish production house Alquimia is joining Argentina's Patagonik and TV channel Telefe on the feature Cleopatra, to be directed by Eduardo Mignogna, Alquimia founder and president Francisco Ramos said Wednesday. The $2 million-budgeted Cleopatra, set to shoot in March, will star Norma Aleandro (The Son of the Bride) and Natalia Oreiro. The project once again teams Ramos with Telefe, which co-produced with Alquimia No Debes Estar Aqui (You Shouldn't Be Here) and Apasionados and is the second Alquimia-Patagonik co-venture after the Cecilia Roth starrer Kamchatka, due out later this year. At the same time, Alquimia is adding a handful of new films to its upcoming slate. Los Malos Vicios, a coming-of-age story of family and change, will be directed by Manuel Toledano and is set to shoot in March. No cast has been announced yet.

It's not too early to start anticipating that this outstanding Argentine-Spanish co-production will be one of the Academy Award nominees for foreign film. Close to perfection in every regard, provoking more laughs and tears than all the films one sees in any given season combined -- and a movie that would make such masters as Frank Capra and Billy Wilder proud -- "Son of the Bride" (El Hijo de la Novia) earned the Special Grand Prix of the Jury award in main competition at the World Film Festival of Montreal (HR 9/4).

Director and co-writer Juan Jose Campanella worked for much of the past decade in the United States in television and won two Emmy Awards for directing. He co-wrote the screenplay of "Son" with Fernando Castets after the pair collaborated on Campanella's 1999 feature "Same Love, Same Rain". While the Spanish-language "Son" has strong appeal to mature audiences, a smart domestic distributor could take it on the art house circuit, where the film could achieve a resounding success.

Rafael (Ricardo Darin) is a 42-year-old restaurant owner and divorcee who wants to change his life. Always on his cell phone dealing with work problems, he's got a beautiful girlfriend (Natalia Verbeke) and a loyal staff, but money problems and pressures to sell his business are taking a toll. He has a young daughter who lives most of the time with his ex-wife, while his aging father, Nino (Hector Alterio), who started the restaurant Rafael took over, is a gentle, supportive soul.

The title refers to Nino's desire to grant the decades-long wish of his wife, Rafael's mother (Norma Aleandro), who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, to have a church wedding. In scene after exquisite scene one gets to knows these characters and sympathize with them. Rafael is a man in crisis who does not judge others and does not blame the world for his problems. But he's also not always aware of how much love and support he has to help him get to the next stage of life.

When he has a heart attack but recovers to nearly his former energetic self, Rafael decides he needs more "freedom" and sells the restaurant, while also contemplating a move to Mexico. Fortunately, those around him, including a childhood friend-turned-actor (Eduardo Blanco), are not altogether behind him, and the lead makes the best of what he's already got.

From the constant stream of little jokes and bittersweet moments involving his parents, work and the women in his life to the unabashedly emotional peaks, Rafael's story is so uncommonly rendered with cinematic skill that it frankly leaves one delirious with admiration. The cinematography, music, editing and, most of all, the performances cannot be praised too much.

SON OF THE BRIDE

Pol-ka Prods., Patagonik Film Group

Jempsa, Tornasol Films

Director: Juan Jose Campanella

Screenwriters: Juan Jose Campanella, Fernando Castets

Producers: Adrian Suar, Fernando Blanco

Director of photography: Daniel Shulman

Production designer: Juan Vera

Editor: Camilo Antolini

Music: Angel Illaramendi

Color/stereo

Cast:

Rafael: Ricardo Darin

Nino: Hector Alterio

Norma: Norma Aleandro

Juan Carlos: Eduardo Blanco

Naty: Natalia Verbeke

Running time -- 123 minutes

No MPAA rating...