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Monday, July 26, 2021

LOS TALLOS AMARGOS / THE BITTER STEMS (1956)

Prime Argentinean film noir from director Fernando Ayala lands somewhere between a well-made plan gone wrong like DOUBLE INDEMNITY/’44, and the no-way-out living nightmare of DETOUR/’45.  Pulsating with dream-like expressionistic touches in pools of black, Ayala moves seamlessly between past & present, much helped by an Astor Piazzolla score not without a few tango riffs to showcase his signature bandoneon stylings.  Carlos Cores stars as a disaffected scandal-sheet reporter in early mid-life crisis who throws his lot in with fast-talking bartender Vassili Lambrinos on a phony start-up correspondence journalism course.  The whole thing is a scam, but once the cash starts coming in, Carlos can’t be sure who’s being conned.  He’s giving the lion’s share to his new BFF/partner who needs money to bring his family over from Europe.  But what if there is no family?  What if it’s all talk?  Who’s the con man and who’s being conned?  Murder seems the logical solution to all the lies, and easy when your victim is a man with no papers, no personal trail, no family, only a pesky mistress.  Maybe she needs to go too.  The perfect moment for an overseas telegram from Europe to come in under your office door.  Yikes!  Neatly plotted, neatly styled, neatly handled, and extremely well cast.  Just beware of unrestored prints.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: From Mexico, more classic Latino noir in the even better LA NOCHE AVANZA/’52.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/04/la-noche-avanza-night-falls-1952.html

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