Fathers and sons . . .
Added 11/21/2008
This film, set in Buenos Aires, is a loving story of father, son, and grandson. Recently wed young lawyer and university teacher, Perelman, lives a buttoned down life that works as regular as clockwork until his kindergarten-aged son, aging father, and Pilates instructor wife help him break out of the mold. Daniel Hendler is wonderful as the 30-something protagonist suddenly set adrift by structural problems that close down the office building where he works.
A deft teacher, whose lectures to large classes are interrupted by staged intrusions of men posing as penguin advocates and devoted former students, he is concerned as a trial lawyer with the unreliability of perception. There's much, he learns, that he has never seen with his own eyes until now, as he grapples with parenthood and the odd behavior of his father, whose practice of law is at opposite poles from his own and whose career-long personal assistant begins to look more like she's also been his mistress. The film wants to charm, and for the most part it does, with a sweetly told "coming of age" story, for a man of principle who sleeps with his suit on.
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A Wonderful Movie
Added 10/24/2008
This movie illustrates the life of a young man and his family in Argentina, where his father is an attorney, and wants the son to resume the law practice.
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Family ties that bind and heal......
Added 4/30/2008
DERECHO DE FAMILIA (FAMILY LAW), the third and final installment in Daniel Burman's trilogy, finds the lead character Ariel Perleman (Daniel Hendler) teaching law at the university, while giving us a play-by-play of the events that lead up to his being there. What's more, we get a sense of the great divide that exists between him and his father, who he only refers to as "Perleman Senior" (Arturo Goetz), who practices law out of a firm where several people feel his son should work as well. It's never really clear where the breakdown in their relationship took place. What is evident is that Ariel is reluctant to form any interpersonal relationships, other than the one he builds with his wife, Sandra (Julieta Diaz), who stands out in the crowd of his students--many of them young and female. Sandra teaches Pilates, and Ariel takes her classes to get closer to her, after she drops out of his law class. They marry and have a beautiful son, Gaston. Ariel fails to form a bond with him and Sandra must juggle all activities that involve their child, while Ariel remains off to the side. This is truly a character study in broken relationships and how they effect and alter those involved.
Daniel Burman succeeds in creating a beautiful, humorous and touching film. It engages and touches your heart, all the while making you think about the consequences that evolve out of estrangement and emotional abandonment. What's more, sometimes we have the power to turn this pain around if we're sincere. I don't want to ruin the evolution of the plot development here. You're just going to have watch it and see for yourself. This is just beautiful.
11 out of 11 people found this helpful.
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Same mistakes as most Argentine movies
Added 1/23/2008
Argentine movie makers seem to make it a point not to tell a story in their movies.
Instead, an Argentine movie has to be plotless, be somewhat Costumbrista, slightly testimonial and, most of all, have a "French ending" to leave the viewer wondering.
It has to be pretentious and boring, because Argentine viewers do not go to the cinema to enjoy themselves, they go to the cinema to be educated. Let's leave those minor things like create a good story to those stupid gringos, we are beyond that.
Unfortunately, this movie follows all those guidelines.
Which is a pity, because the acting is, in general, acceptable (except for Adriana Aizemberg, who manages to bring the movie to a stop by overacting in her only 30-second speech).
But in all justice, no character is engaging, and there is only so much the actors can do.
I enjoyed the voice-over by the protagonist (performed by Daniel Hendler), with his cultivated, yet young and typically River Plate accent.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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"It's a shame you have to go so far away to breathe"
Added 9/15/2007
This is a beautiful movie about the process of going from being a son to being a father. The role of the son is played by the Uruguayan Daniel Hendler, and he plays this part to perfection. He also gets the opportunity to be the narrator of the story, which is a prominent feature of the movie, and which he performs with a great versatility, giving his voice the necessary tone to convey the mood of the situation.
Daniel Hendler portrays Dr. Ariel Perelman, a lawyer that works as a professor at the university and as a defense attorney for the state. He has a peculiar relationship with his father, sometimes showing admiration, and at others being distant. The father, Perelman Sr. has a colorful set of clients, and he uses his people's skills to get through his day as quickly and efficiently as possible. The narration of one of his normal days at the beginning of the movie provides great insight into how things usually work in Latin America.
When Ariel becomes infatuated with Sandra, a student in his class, he decides right there and then that once classes are over, she is going to become his wife. And surprisingly this works, but not after a series of pilates classes and a civil trial. They soon have a son, and now Ariel has to adapt to being a father and trying to establish a bond that will not end up like the one he has with his own father.
The film has a good balance between serious / dramatic moments and others that are funny and relaxed. One of my favorite aspects was how the culture from the Rio de la Plata is incorporated in the movie, to show the idiosyncrasies of its people. For example, the name in the lobby of the building in which Dr. Perelman has his study shows his name as PE ELMAN, and this has been the case for more than twenty years; it has never been fixed because people understand it anyway. There are many other examples of cases in which the culture plays a salient role in this film, but I will let you figure them out by yourself when you watch it, which you should most definitely do.
5 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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