Lost Embrace

March. 14,2004      
Rating:
6.9
Trailer Synopsis Cast

In Buenos Aires, the twenty-something Jewish-Argentinean Ariel Makaroff ditches the University of Architecture and spends his time wandering through the downtown gallery where his mother has a lingerie shop and his brother runs an importation business. Ariel has never understood why his father left him when he was a baby, but when his dad returns to Argentina, that will soon change.

Daniel Hendler as  Ariel Makaroff
Adriana Aizemberg as  Sonia Makaroff
Jorge D'Elía as  Elías Makaroff
Sergio Boris as  Joseph Makaroff
Rosita Londner as  Abuela de Ariel
Diego Korol as  Mitelman
Silvina Bosco as  Rita
Melina Petriella as  Estela
Mónica Cabrera as  Saligani Mamá
Franco Tirri as  Saligani Hijo

Reviews

Hellen
2004/03/14

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Steineded
2004/03/15

How sad is this?

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Voxitype
2004/03/16

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

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Brainsbell
2004/03/17

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

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Claudio Carvalho
2004/03/18

In Buenos Aires, the twenty and something years old Jewish-Argentinean Ariel Makaroff (Daniel Hendler) has quited the architecture university and spends his time wandering through the downtown gallery where his mother has a lingerie shop and his brother runs an importation business; shagging the owner of a little Internet business; and trying to get his Polish passport and move to Europe. Ariel has never understood why his father left him when he was a baby to fight in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. When his father returns to Buenos Aires, Ariel discovers the reason why his father left his family."El Abrazo Partido" is a disappointing little personal drama with uninteresting and dull characters and awful camera work. The lead character Ariel is an alienated shirker and his motivations in the story are never clear, since he does not study and has no work; no religion in spite of being Jewish; no sense of nationalism; no girlfriend (he left Estela without any reason); no respect or feelings for his family; no nothing but intercourse with the next door neighbor in the gallery Rita and an apparently interest in having an European passport. His mother, his grandmother, his brother, his father, the neighbors in the gallery, none of these characters is interesting. The style partially recalls the Danish filmmaker movement Dogma 95, since the movie is done on the location; with ambient sound; use of hand-held camera; colored with no use of filters; very realistic plot; etc. However, the hand-held camera work is awful, recalling "The Blair Witch Project" or "Cloverfield" and the division in parts with subtitles seems to be a pretentious trial of intellectual style. But the acting is great and my vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Abraço Partido" ("The Broken Hug")

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carlos-weigle
2004/03/19

This is one of those warm, funny little movies that make you laugh, cry and everything in between. The relationships between these characters, who are barely holding it together while their world falls apart, is really touching. The diversity of this group of immigrants sharing a "galería" - a kind of commercial space that filled the streets of Buenos Aires before the arrival of the shopping malls - certainly adds interest and make all these great character actors shine. Even though the theme and mood are quite different, it reminds me of another little movie that really touched me, "Walk on Water." When in doubt...go see both!

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Henry Fields
2004/03/20

A Jewish Argentinian young man, a little confused, a little depressing; a father that went away to Israel when he was a just a baby, a mother that seems to be living in a fantasy world, a polish grandmother who thinks that "there in Europe they want to kill all the jews", a brother who has sort of an export-import business in which he sells all kind of useless stuff, a lover married to an old man, a commercial gallery full of weirdos ... AND TONS OF Argentinian SARCASM!Lively dialogues, the Argentinian verbal-diarrhoea which is present in every sequence, the innate naturalness of Argentinian actors, and a filming style pretty similar to latest north-European cinema, Von Trier, the DOGMA manifesto, and all that ... That's (maybe) the weakest point of "El Abrazo Partido": too much camera movement, so much that in some sequences it gets a little annoying. (I'm not very in favour on making a whole movie with the camera on your shoulder).In short: a film about ordinary people, plenty of Argentinian sacastic humour. My rate: 7/10

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Andres Rais
2004/03/21

I don't like Daniel Burman's movies. I don't recommend them. I solve my prejudice with this one. This movie is agile, simple and effective. This movie has a very good second part and increases the level towards the end. The film tells the story of Ariel Makaroff (Daniel Hendler), Jewish, late twenties with a mentality of a teenager. He runs from one place to another and he his idea consists in going abroad with Polish documents. He is running from the crisis of the country and all the people seems to have no brain. His father left him when he was a baby to go to war. Apparently his father went abroad for a different reason that Ariel will find out towards the second part of the movie. Simple plot, great ending. Performances are very good with an Oscar for Adriana Aizemberg who plays the role of the mother. I would like to thank Burman for solving my prejudice. A well received award in Berlin. I give this movie a 9 out of 10. Andrés.

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