Ten years was enough for one of the country’s most renowned directors to return to the cinemas, and it was not for less: four days after his arrival in the halls, “The Tale of the Weasels” marked a good debut with 9,733 tickets sold (with a total of 120,567). There is No doubt that Juan José Campanella returned, and the big screen Argentina knows it. His new film is already part of the billboard in 228 rooms and during the first weekend, became one of the most chosen.
Although it could not dethrone “Avengers Endgame”, which still leads with a total of 3,539,147 spectators accumulated (added 182,009 these days), according to the survey of Ultracinema. Graciela Borges, Luis Brandoni, Oscar Martínez, Marcos Mundstock, Nicolás Francella and Clara Lago stars in an acidic comedy, a remake that revalues the national cinema and allows to reflect on the forgetfulness, the cost of the fame, the friendship, the youth and the old age.
Mara Ordaz (Borges), a renowned and splendid actress, travels her present with the nostalgia of a strange past, trapped in a masion with her husband and frustrated actor (Brandoni), his director (Martínez) and screenwriter (Mundstock). However, his daily life will be altered with the arrival of two young people who will propose to sell the house and move to the Porteño center. At Filo. News we analyzed the Campanella film, we told you about the behind-the-scenes data and we delve into some points that allow you to understand the relevance and success of this tape. To the cinema after the Oscar
“The Tale of the Weasels” comes to the big screen Argentina nine years after a second Argentine film was awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Of course, we talked about “the secret of his eyes”-based on the novel by Eduardo-Cheri The question of his eyes-from Campanella, who received the statuette and resumed the legacy of “the Official Story” (first to win the Oscar in 1986).
After making history and six years after the release of the animated film “Metegol” (2013), Campanella presents “The Tale of the Weasels”, the remake of the film by José Martínez Suárez “The boys from before did not use Arsenic” (1976). Campanella: More than 20 years of the first screenplay
Although the film was released last Thursday, May 16th, the director of other successes as “the Son of the Bride”, “The same Love, the same Rain” and “Luna de Avellaneda” began to write the first version of the script in 1997, and was adapting the argument and the choice of a Ctores over the years.
“When I wrote the film for the first time I didn’t have the actors in mind, they were still in diapers,” Campanella told Filo. News.
Without spoilear too much, the passage of time allowed the ideal turn in one of its lines of argument: the years in which the characters lived their glory years and the period in which they moved away from their profession.
Juan José Campanella | Photo: Courtesy of Press
Campanella’s work in the television unit “The Man of Your Life” (2011) was decisive to elect the cast of “The Tale of the Weasels”. Remember that fiction brought together three of the actors: Graciela Borges, Luis Brandoni and Nico Francella.
“When I worked with Graciela on ‘ The Man of your life ‘ I immediately said ‘ I have Mara Ordaz, ‘” the director told Filo. News.
The last years Campanella was distanced of the cinema to tackle to the theatre: he directed the plays “Parque Lezama” (also starring Luis Brandoni) and “What do we do with Walter?”. Between Fame and Oblivion: The weight of the statuette
Campanella came back and returned with an Oscar in hand. This issue is not unnoticed in the film and is represented as a kind of wink in the prize most treasured by the protagonist.
The Mara Ordaz Award
Mara Ordaz looks after and exhibits her most prized award in the centre of La Masion where she lives. It is his trophy, the merit of his golden years and what he most valued made matter. The statuette works as a metaphor, and will perpose to reflect-by way of moral-that “not all that shines is gold” and what implies for a queen to always carry the crown in. Cinematographic Mamushka: One film within another, and a homage to the cinema
“I drink because life is not like one of your scripts,” says Norberto Imbert (Oscar Martínez) to Martín Saravia (Marcos Mundstock). “In cinema there is no life like ours, without problems, there should be danger, something that threatens, a villain,” he continues and gives the perfect foot to the arrival of the two young. The tale of the Weasels “-in addition to being a remake-tributes great classics as the Oscar winner,” Cinema Paradiso “and includes small fragments of the tapes in which Graciela Borges gave her first artistic steps.
Nico Francella and Graciela Borges | Photo: Courtesy of Press
The film is an acid parody on life and cinema, it is allowed to break with subtlety the barrier character-spectator (but without speaking to him in front) and uses small clichés as small references of identification with the audience. The protagonists are a family linked by the cinema, which accentuates their passage through the big screen and the allusions to several films that appear mentioned or represented in the film.
“The Tale of the Weasels” | Photo: Courtesy of Press
Not casually titled “The Tale of the Weasels”, which will give us a clue to the history class to be counted. On the other hand, one of the non-favorable points of the film is the female representation. The action of the characters of Borges and Lago is more questioned than those of his companions, who win in majority, and under the gaze of a director also man. Youth vs. old age: A bug eats another
Defiant looks. Sabotage. Bait. Weasels feed. The war between generations gives a spark of action, suspense and comedy to the film but does not forget the emotional passages and the quota of low blows. “To win you have to look at the opponent,” defies the screenwriter. The weasel functions as the perfect animal representation of the characters: it adapts to the circumstances and habitat, and feeds on a variety of living beings (from poultry meat, small mammals, toads, lizards, insects, cockroaches, worms).
Marcos Mundstock in “The Tale of the Weasels”
The interaction between youth and old age makes it possible to reflect on the passage of time, vitality, ingenuity and experience, between what remains and what seems to be an object to be scrapped. Escopetazos, footprints, games of pool and chess and a delink to the height of events.
“The Tale of the Weasels”
“This is not a matter of contempt for old age, I am very aware that I will also be old,” says Nico Francella’s character with irony. Mundstock tops: “Don’t be so sure.” Behind-the-scenes secrets
The film was recorded in seven weeks, and in winter, what the cast remembers to perfection: None forget the cold that passed. Besides, the house is not the same inside and outside, the interior is of a locasión in the neighborhood Porteño de Devoto. The characterization of Oscar Martínez
The actor was made up by the winner of the Goya Award for Best Makeup and hairdressing, Sylvie Imbert, who did look a few years older. That meant he got to the recordings first and left last.
The characterization of Oscar Martínez
Clara Lago: A Spanish with an Argentinean accent
The work of the protagonist of “Eight Basque surnames”, who already worked in Argentine cinema with “at the end of the tunnel” (2016) does a job that deserves to be highlighted: both from the professional and the talent to make your Spanish accent is invisible.
Clara Lago
Recommended to see in the cinema
“The Tale of the Weasels”, a film by Juan José Campanella and our recommended to see in the cinema. To prepare the popcorn to see a new national premiere. In this note:
The tale of the Weasels
Juan José Campanella
Luis Brandoni
Graciela Borges
Nicolás Francella
Marcos Mundstock
