Slow to boil, and never going past a (discomforting) simmer, the deliberate pacing & opaque concerns of Andreas Fontana’s debut feature will be a barrier to some, an invitation to ponder for others. The elusive story & acting style all feints & tiny adjustments as Fabrizio Rongione’s Swiss private investment banker travels to politically unsettled Argentina hoping to shore up relationships with the ultra-wealthy elite previously handled by a partner in the firm gone missing.* Comporting himself to fit the situation, he maneuvers with hardly a centimeter to spare in a fixed society where no one quite says what they mean, but indicate, infer or allude, while staying prepared for any big political changes. The Right is IN; the Left is IN; the Army is Taking Over, only the One Per Cent is constant. (Make that the 0.01%.) Making the trip with wife Stéphanie Cléau, he leans on her impeccable taste & impeccable instincts, doing the rounds of the rich and entitled, men (and the occasional widow) who trust no one (certainly no one in their own extended families) to carry on their financial affairs. (One wealthy baron would like to leave everything to a wife presumed dead.) The tone taking something of a detour toward the end, with a possible explanation showing his client list isn’t entirely tethered to private planes, well-tended estates, restricted social clubs, thoroughbred horses and leisure laps in glistening pools. A deceptively calm film that might have been scored by a minimalist classical composer, and, at its best, with similar hypnotic appeal.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *In looks & demeanor, there’s a lot of Robert Vaughan in Fabrizio Rongione. Not MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., but a vibe more like the supporting bureaucratic villains Vaughan played in features.
No comments:
Post a Comment