Plot introduction
In Uruguay, they don't say cheese in front of the camera - they say whisky. Beneath the artificially photographed smiles, however, is a blueprint for the "South American Gothic," minus the farm and the forks. These Montevidean folks' stony expressions belie a life gripped frozen by accustomed routines. So it goes with an old Jewish bachelor who owns an ageing sock factory. When his estranged younger brother decides to visit for their mother's burial, he asks his employee Marta to pose as his wife. The resulting encounter creates clumsy silences that are uncomfortably comic. Grand Prize, Tokyo Film Festival and FIPRESCI prize from Cannes. 這一代的年輕人真係好老成好cool，兩個新導演還不到三十，便已拍出型到飛起黑色到痺的老人寂寞晚境。話說襪廠老闆阿積孤家寡人，寂寞到死，一天飛來鴻雁，巴西的弟弟話來拜訪。他要表面風光，唯有求忠厚下屬瑪泰暫充老婆。兩個名字同樣叫孤獨的六十幾歲人忽然親近，彆扭得不在話下。口若懸河的巴西弟弟一出現，畫面調子大轉彎。三人海邊度假，瑪泰沉睡的神經率先波動，往後發生的事估都估唔到。郭利斯馬基式冷面幽默扭橋扭到熱帶南美，黑色照舊輕描淡寫功力同樣高超，另一種風情絕對原創。去年康城驚艷，連奪國際影評人獎及原創觀點大獎。 Source: 29th HKIFF (2005)
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