El abrazo partido (2004)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Daniel Burman

Writers:

Marcelo Birmajer (writer)
Daniel Burman (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 2004 (Argentina)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

In Buenos Aires, the twenty and something year old Jewish-Argentinean Ariel Makaroff has left the University...

Plot Keywords:

Buenos Aires | Passport | Yom Kippur War | Gallery | Feng Shui

Awards:

10 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Daniel Hendler	...	Ariel Makaroff
Adriana Aizemberg	...	Sonia Makaroff
Jorge D'Elía	...	Elías Makaroff
Sergio Boris	...	Joseph Makaroff
Rosita Londner	...	Abuela de Ariel
Diego Korol	...	Mitelman
Silvina Bosco	...	Rita
Isaac Fajm	...	Osvaldo
Melina Petriella	...	Estela
Atilio Pozzobon	...	Saligani Papá
Mónica Cabrera	...	Saligani Mamá
Franco Tirri	...	Saligani Hijo
Luciana Dulizky	...	Saligani Hija
Eloy Burman	...	Saligani Bebé
Juan José Flores Quispe	...	Ramón

Also Known As:

Lost Embrace (International: English title) (USA)
El abrazo partido (Spain)
El abrazo partido: L'abbraccio perduto (Italy)
Le fils d'Elias (France)

Runtime:

Argentina:99 min | USA:100 min

Country:

Argentina | France | Italy | Spain

Language:

Spanish | Korean | Yiddish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Canada:PG | UK:15 | Belgium:KT | Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | Brazil:14 | France:U | Italy:T | Poland:15 | Spain:T | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:AL | Chile:14

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

BD Cine

Trivia:

It is Argentina's official choice for the 2004 Oscar Awards, Foreign Language film category.

Goofs:

Factual errors: There is no Lithuanian language in the film. The girl from Lithuania named Vilna (Lithuania's capital name is Vilnius) is speaking Russian, not Lithuanian. The words Vilna says when she first meets Ariel are "Tvoi drug Ariel. Chto s nim sluchilos?", what means "Your friend Ariel. What's wrong with him?"

Movie Connections:

References Zelig (1983)

Soundtrack:

I Libe Heim

A Modern Sholom Aleichem Tale Set in Buenes Aires

"Lost Embrace (El Abrazo partido)" is like a modern Sholom Aleichem story set in a Yiddishkeit neighborhood of Buenos Aires that feels very much like NYC's Lower East Side.

Here, the village full of multi-generational eccentric characters is a small mall in the middle of the city where each of a variety of Jews and other immigrants is long familiar with and tolerant of the other's idiosyncrasies and mysteries.

As played by Daniel Hendler, Ariel is an adorable slacker who thinks the solution to his ennui is to become European but ends up searching this community for his full identity and heritage -- as a Jew, as a grandson of Polish immigrants, as a mother's son, as a son of a father in Israel, as a lover, a brother, friend and Argentinian. His loving relationship with his brightly henna-haired mother as he helps out at her lingerie shop is both unusually sweet and mature and a nice counter-point to how Jewish mothers are usually portrayed.

Co-writer/director Daniel Burman uses the midrashic technique of having each question asked by the central character answered by a story, with titles appearing on screen as chapter headings. Each story is open to Talmudic-like interpretation by the participants and leads to unexpected revelations. For example, the joke from "Fiddler in the Roof" of traders arguing about whether it was a mule or a donkey is here an ongoing feud about whether it was in pesos or dollars.

While his quest greatly impacts the others he questions as each makes important changes in habits, it is a bit confusing that the more Ariel gradually learns about his history and just how entwined he is in his community, the less he is able to assimilate it into his image of himself. He does seem to learn forgiveness or maybe at least tolerance and empathy, but the sum totaling of all the charming anecdotes is that he can accept eating a certain symbolic sandwich.

Ah, life goes on in this easy-going tale.