Powerful

How sad is this?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A nice brooding noir kind of mystery thriller. Pretty original and effective in the Spanish language, though it probably would work very well somewhere in the marshy backlands of America. It's just a nice tight story.A couple of small time crooks with a common past make the mistake of doing their "bussiness" within their one very tightknit community. This goes wrong and turns pretty volatile as this outback, marshland community is used to dishing out it's own justice among it's inhabitants. Agustin steps into his brothers shoes and a world that is far more scary and anxious then the one he has desperately tried to flee.A great film with some beautiful photography and nice mounting tension, but as i mentioned, it could have played out almost anywhere. When I watched it I (obviously) thought it was Spanish, I found out after that it's Argentinian. This doesn't really show anywhere. It's in fact a pretty small film, as small as it's tightknit community.Nice, but weird, to see Viggo Mortensen in this role. He plays it perfectly but it's still slightly distracting to me. Supporting cast is good too, particularly "Baby" and 'best' friend "Adrian". The only role that didn't really impress was the wife "Claudia". It was either her acting or the maybe less believable role she has to play, just not entirely convincing.All in all a good low key, slowburning thriller. Bit of mystery, bit of tension and a bit of yearning. Remade, with some gunfights and explosions, this would probably turn into a "Homefront" type of movie, so let's just leave it as it is. 7/10

Viggo Mortensen stars in a film about a man who switches places with his brother. That was all this reviewer knew about this film before seeing it. That was enough to know, to choose to go, and see it.Film is rated 15 in the UK, it is a Fox film, Argentinian, set in Argentina, and it is in Spanish with English subtitles.Film opens with Viggo Mortensen living in a rural setting by the river. His life is hard and harsh. By contrast his brother seems to have a charmed life. They are twins. However this film is not 'Twins'. No mismatched brothers like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Danny DeVito. No laughs either. This is not a comedy, but rather a grim crime drama, with some social comment, and a touch of philosophy.Both twins, both played by Viggo Mortensen, in reality do not have great lives. One is unwell and living in a shack by the river, the other is unhappy with his family life. They meet and a chance to swap places arises. The scenes after the switch are shown from the point of view of the impostor. Like him we know very little and thus always wonder if the act has succeeded or has been suspected.The acting by Viggo Mortensen is superb, he really convinces in his roles and the two brothers act together in a believable way. The way that Viggo Mortensen acts, is a perfect example of a person acting, as someone, who is acting, as someone different, than he is in reality. Of course this must really be second nature for Viggo Mortensen. The first time this reviewer saw him was as 'The stand-up guy' Lalin in 'Carlito's Way'. The second time was in 'A History of Violence'. So this is familiar territory.Familiar too, is the backdrop. Like the recent 'Mud', much of this film is set on the river. However whereas 'Mud' was a story about two boys starting on the road to manhood, this film is about men who were once boys. Whereas 'Mud' was lovingly filmed to show honest hardworking families living off the river, this film is very much a more grim mirror-image of that. 'Mud' was a 12A, whereas this much grittier film, is a 15. As the river dominates the film, we see much to-ing and fro-ing in little motor boats. The weather is not nice. 'Promised Land' seemed to be shot in a cool off-season, rather than cool this seems positively cold. No false Spring here.The movie was filmed well, the scenes with the two brothers seemed real and believable, and as said earlier, the two brothers seemed to interact well together. A lot of films recently, seem to have an awful lot of narration in them, 'Byzantium' is a perfect example of this. By contrast, this film has none of this, none is needed. A memory from the past is used in a subtle way to tell you all you need to know.While praise is due to Viggo Mortensen for his acting, (he also produced), tribute is also due to the rest of the cast. The two females, one playing a girlfriend and the other a betrayed wife, gave excellent performances. The actor playing the childhood friend, gives a powerhouse performance, which dominates, in every scene he is in.There is a 'Touch of Evil' about this film, as well as 'A History of Violence', mostly though this film has a river-theme like 'Mud', which makes them very similar. An interesting quirk of fate has caused two river-themed films to have come out around the same time. Or are we seeing the emergence of a Tales of the Riverbank genre? This is as good as 'Mud', though a little more adult. If you liked that river film, or 'A History of Violence', you will like this. 10/10.

As big Viggo fans, we desperately wanted to love the movie. And it has a lot going for it: a flawless production (rarely a given in Argentine films) which is perfect on atmosphere, beautiful camera work in every single frame, and impressive acting all around. I strongly disagree with Buenos Aires Herald critic Julio Nakamurakare's statement that Viggo Mortensen is "light years away from his sterling performances…." He should give it another viewing and look harder. Viggo Mortensen is actually playing three characters, Pedro the lowlife from the Tigre Delta, his twin brother Agustin, a prestigious pediatrician and – Agustin pretending to be Pedro. He pulls off a fabulous job, offering an array of subtle nuances which give each character its own distinctive shading. Soledad Villamil (of The Secret in Their Eyes fame) is wonderful as Agustin's wife Claudia, but her character kind of falls to the wayside much too soon. Daniel Fanego is predictably great as the bad guy and Sofia Gala Castiglione is the big surprise as the tough gal from the swamps. These are the good points in this story (and the reason why I give it 7 points) that starts out as a thriller (a murder in the Delta), continues as an intimate character study (a man's midlife crises – maybe, though that's open to interpretation), then slides into an off-and-on suspenseful tale of swapped identities, botched plans, some more character study and a rather far-fetched slapped-on love story, all of it sustained by some brilliant scenes and brought down by many mediocre ones. Unfortunately, all this does not come to a satisfying end. Instead, we came down with a thud at the end, confused, irritated and full of questions about loose ends. This movie is not Dogma or Nouvelle Vague or some indie experiment, it is classical story-telling, but for that there is just not enough on motive and background. So sorry, Ana Piterbarg! Luckily you will have the chance to get it right next time. And the time after. Hopefully. Anyway, judging from the post-show ladies room comments, people do love the movie! And yes, Viggo rocks!

Being an Argentinian, of course I ran to the movies to see Viggo Mortensen in a local movie. I have to admit that I didn't even know what the plot was going to be about, so I was open to anything.Although I use to hate the way argentinians act (it's like acting, here in Argentina, is not about performing fiction in a believable way but something else...), during the movie I found hilarious that Viggo, despite his slightly weird accent, was acting way more natural and believable than almost everyone else. Don't ask me why, I just feel proud of him. He rocks. Soledad Villamil and Daniel Fanego were OK, but Sofia Gala's performance was quite poor. Besides the acting, I think the main ideas of the screenplay weren't well developed and got lost in a slow movie. It's a shame, because the storyline could have been something much much better, actually worthy of a decent cast and production.So... I give it a six just because Viggo Mortensen's performance was amazing, but overall, it's a slow movie that could have been great, but just isn't, and that leaves you disappointed.