Over the last few years, Buenos Aires has grown to become internationally known for the quantity and quality of its cultural offerings. The assertion refers mainly to theatre — fringe and mainstream — with some 300 productions staged every weekend all over town. But film is a different matter altogether. In this regard, the cines de barrio have given way to parking lots and telepreachers. Others, more fortunate, have been turned into blockbuster multiplexes.
But most screens are housed in shopping malls, perhaps to lure moviegoers to shopaholics’ haven. And shopping malls — with the sole exception of the Abasto during autumn’s BAFICI International Festival of Independent Films — are no art house paradise. Summing up, movie offerings are far too limited in a metropolitan city like BA. But, as they say, what you get is what you see.


• ANITA (Argentina, 2009). In Spanish.
Anita has all, or nearly all, the features of Down children, affected by this condition the incidence of which is roughly estimated at 1 per 800 to 1,000 births. Anita lives a happy life, lovingly cared for by her mother (Norma Aleandro), who runs a small stationery store in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood known as “Once,” once mostly populated by shopowners of Jewish origin. Feldman, that’s Anita’s last name, but she doesn’t know it because of her limited cognitive abilities. Feldmans, like many other Jewish community members, live around the area, and the AMIA is where most of their social, medical care and other trámites are handled. A morning or afternoon brief run to the AMIA is nothing out of the ordinary for them. When Anita’s mother goes to the AMIA to cash a subsidy check for her child with Down syndrome, she tells the infant: “It’s a quarter to 3. When the big handle on that clock reaches the top, mom will be back.” Mom is gone, never to return.
Directed by Marcos Carnevale. Starring Norma Aleandro, Leonor Manso, Luis Luque, Peto Menahem, and Alejandra Manzo in the title role. Written by: Marcos Carnevale / Lily Ann Martin / Marcela Guerty. Music by: Lito Vitale. Photography: Guillermo Zapino. Sound: José Luis Díaz. Distributed by Distribution Company. NC13. Running time: 104 minutes.


• THE UGLY TRUTH (La cruda verdad, US, 2009). In English with Spanish-language subtitles.
A TV exec reluctantly gives in to pressure from a correspondent, and lets him carry out a series of embarrassing experiments to prove his theory about love relationships. The conclusion is that there are surprising similarities and differences between males and females when it comes to sexual intercourse.
Directed by: Robert Luketic. Written by: Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. With: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter, Nick Searcy, Jesse D. Goins. Scope. Distributed by Columbia. NC13. Running time: 95 minutes.


• ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO (Zack y Miri hacen una porno, US, 2008). In English with Spanish-language subtitles.
A box office hit in the US, Zack... is a comedy interspersed with erotic humour à la Porky’s. In Argentina, the movie has an impressive number of outlets: some 22, outdoing others in a long, long time.
Written and directed by: Kevin Smith. With: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, and 80s hardcore star Tracy Lords. Distributed by SP Films. NC16. Running time: 101 minutes.


• COCO AVANT CHANEL (Cocó antes de Chanel). In French with Spanish-language subtitles.
Another big-screen version of the life of the famous French couturier Coco Chanel, who forever changed 20th century fashion with her petite robe noire, and also famous for her close links with the Nazis during the invasion of Paris in WWII.
Directed by: Anne Fontaine. Written by: Anne Fontaine and Camille Fontaine, based on the book by Edmonde Charles-Roux. With: Audrey Tautou (Amélie), Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos, Régis Royer. Scope. Distributed by Warner. NC13. Running time: 109 minutes.


• LA RAGAZZA DEL LAGO (Italy, 2007). In Italian with Spanish-language subtitles.
Billed as Twin Peaks revisited with an Italian touch, La ragazza... probes the murder of a teen girl whose body appears in a forest, near a lake, where she would often go for lunch. In a small town such as this one, there are, surprisingly, a horde of suspects.
Directed by: Andrea Molaioli. With: Valeria Golino, Omero Antonutti. Scope. NC13. Running time: 92 minutes.