by Joseph Rossi for Curtains Up
The 4th annual Latin Film Festival of Montreal kicks off on Saturday at the Cinema du Parc by showcasing as it’s first film, Argentinian director Carlos Sorin’s 2012 feature Dias De Pesca (Gone Fishing). Introducing the film will be none other then…Carlos Sorin.
I am not familiar with Sorin’s work aside from seeing his last film The Cat Vanishes, which I thought was a very well made tiny thriller about marital suspicion, so I consider myself a greenhorn. What I saw in Dias De Pesca at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival is restraint; a timid, short character study that boarders on the melodramatic but has a sure hand behind the camera to reign in the sap before it becomes runny.
It’s a story about Marco, a hardworking man who lost his family to divorce and drink, and his journey from his home in Buenos Aires to the Patagonian’s coast to attempt to try his hand at shark fishing as well as attempt to reconcile with his daughter. Along the way he meets locals who inspire him to take notice of the beauty of his homeland and make amends with his daughter before time runs out. The film teeters on the brink of explaining that the main character has an illness but the director does a very un-Hollywood like thing and never uses it for dramatic effect.
I recently found out that some of the supporting roles are filled with non-professional actors. That’s refreshing and surprising. Sorin has a good eye for faces; he chose his cast wisely as no one stands out as being ultra glamorous. They’re regular folks. Alejandro Awada’s Marco has a face like a road map. His wrinkles, the bags under his eyes, his smile, all show the years of weariness, and of regret. I love Victoria Almeida as Ana, his daughter. With her crooked smile and sad eyes, she conveys almost the same weariness as her father. I wonder if Sorin used Awada’s eyes as a guide to find the perfect Ana because I swear that Almeida could pass for his daughter based on the strong resemblance. His cinematographer, Julian Apezteguia, does some truly remarkable work here. One thing I couldn’t get out of my head was the primal beauty of Patagonia.
This is a good film. Well made and acted. Its themes are universal. It doesn’t break new ground in the world of international cinema but it does offer a short pleasant diversion.
