13/02/2006

Screened today, El Custodio [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the feature debut of Argentina’s Rodrigo Moreno, is the first offering from Latin America in the official competition programme, a co-production between Germany, France and Uruguay.

The 34 year-old director who won the 2005 Sundance/NHK Award for Best Latin American Script with El Custodio offers an intriguing portrait of the life of a politician’s bodyguard, Ruben. Through Ruben’s repetitive and boring daily routine, we get a peek at the politician’s own joyful, rich and rewarding life: two worlds in drastic contrast. This gap between them is further enhanced by the distance the director adopted to film them. From Ruben’s point of view, we witness the minister’s busy schedule – meetings with other ministers, journalists, a mistress, even with friends in the country – but through blurred or half-open windows that maintain a distance between the two men. Ruben is invisible when that suits his boss (most of the time) and the humiliation and frustrations in his own private and professional life lead to an explosion.

Veteran Argentinean actor Julio Chavez turns in a flawless performance in his semi-silent role as the bodyguard. Viewed with interest at the press show, the film could be a challenge for distributors because of its very slow pace and somewhat non-engaging characters.

Produced by Rizoma Films and Zarlek Producciones in Argentina, the film was co-produced by Pandora Film (Germany), Charivari Films (France) and Control Z Films (Uruguay), with support from NHK, INCAA, Fonds Sud Cinema, Programa Ibermedia, Filmstiftung NRW, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and Fundacion Antorchas. Pandora Film´s sales arm The The Match Factory is handling international sales.