Search - El Dia Que Me Amen on DVD

A Fine Study of the Wounds of Abandonment

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"El Día que me amen (WHEN SOMEBODY LOVES ME) is an important film from Argentina that bravely examines the spectrum of the effects of 'abandonment' in childhood and how that seemingly minor act can transform lives. Based on a story idea by lead actor Adrián Suar and written for the screen by Marcos Carnevale and Marcela Guerty, this powerful movie steps beyond conventional tales of the distancing of childhood friends and moves into the arena of mental dysfunction and the long road to healing.

Joaquín (Adrián Suar) and Mara (Leticia Brédice) are first seen as early 30s young adults, though their intimate childhood companionship is sensitively shown in flashbacks that appear like old home movies. Mara is an actress who has been traveling the world searching for a career and finally returns to Argentina for a chance to appear in a musical production of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. Mara is beautiful, talented, but a bit emotionally blurred, having left her fiancé in Spain just before their wedding. While her return is strained at first (she is forced to break in to her own home because her mother forgot she was arriving!), her mother Elvira (María Rosa Fugazot) and friends are happy she has returned after an 8-year absence.

Mara is eager to see her childhood friend Joaquín who lives nearby, but there is a strange ambience about his household: Joaquín has not left his room for two years, living in near silence in the dark, an obviously damaged young man. His father Ignacio (Juan Leyrado) is compassionate but feels Joaquín should be admitted to a psychiatric clinic. Joaquín pleads to stay at home and Ignacio agrees as long as his therapist doctor Balbis (Jorge Marrale) visits him daily.

When Mara first sees Joaquín she is visibly disturbed, senses his problems, and begins to urge him out of his self-confinement. Slowly the two friends reveal each other's etiologies for maladjustment to life: Joaquín never recovered being abandoned first by his ill mother and second by Mara's abrupt leaving Argentina for her career, and Mara still is wounded by being abandoned by her father as a child and her failure to form lasting bonds with men. By opening memories and ultimately places outside Joaquín's house where they shared the intense bonding of their childhood each begins to heal: Mara has a successful evening as the star of her musical and regains her wounded self respect and Joaquín (with the incredibly fine help of therapist Balbis) shows he is shedding his pain of abandonment and growing toward a normal existence - these two factors set the stage for the film's conclusion.

Director Daniel Barone takes this fragile tale and molds it into one of the more tender and touching films about the impact of childhood's 'tragedies' that has been stated to date. The cinematography by Guillermo Zappino never forgets for a moment the dark tones underlying the lives of each of the characters. But the film would never have been so exacting and splendid were it not for the powerful performances by Adrián Suar and the extraordinarily beautiful and gifted Leticia Brédice ('Nine Queens', 'Burnt Money', 'Ashes from Paradise' etc). The supporting cast is equally and homogeneously outstanding. This is one of those films that lingers in the mind, seeking stimuli for remembering our own demons of childhood, long after the credits are over. In Spanish with English subtitles, 110 minutes. Very Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, July 05





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Excelnte Pelicula

Doel Cruz Garcia | JUANA DIAZ, P.R. Puerto Rico | 03/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Si eres amante a la intriga y a la psicologia humana,no te debes perder esta excelente filmacion en la cual se enfrascan dos vidas con diferentes interses, pero con un mismo fin ... el amor, sin duda alguna se las recomiendo al 100%, espero la disfruten como la disfrute yo, recuerden la catalogacion de las 5 estrellas no es en vano, mucha suerte!!!"

Una Obra de Arte!

LYNNETTE DI ROMANI | IRON MT, MICHIGAN | 05/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"El Dia Que Me Amen

Protagonizan: Adrian Suar y Leticia Bredice

Dirigida por: Daniel Barone

Esta pel?cula es una gran obra de arte que vence todos los rumores y comentarios que las pel?culas Latino-Americanas est?n de baja calidad. Con la ausencia de efectos audio-visuales ostentosos, esta pel?cula nos cuenta de un hombre que se encuentra seriamente emocionalmente incapacitado. Debido a los acontecimientos de su infancia, Joaqu?n (Adrian Suar) se transforma en un ermita?o in?til enbarricado en su dormitorio. Adrian Suar protagoniza el personaje maravillosamente del joven en sus 32 a?os que es consumido por su propio miedo y sufrimiento, as?, haciendo su peor enemigo. Su mejor amistad de su infancia y vecina, Mara (Leticia Bredice) regresa despu?s de ocho a?os de estudios y esperanza de lograr exito como actriz. Su amistad y cari?o ayuda a Joaqu?n superar sus tinieblas y ego?smo, donde ?l comienza a realizar que ser? un camino largo de la terapia, al cual ?l no habia respondido, para la recuperaci?n. Todos los artistas actuaron muy bien en esta pel?cula y hay algunos momentos muy divertidos y comicos en el hospital de pacientes mentales en donde Joaqu?n conoce a otros pacientes y hace un nuevo amigo. La historia ocurre en Argentina pero no se ve mucho de los paisajes hermosos del pais. El acento de Argentina es muy evidente y el uso de nuestra lengua Espa?ola es hermoso y elocuente. Nunca he entendido completamente la gente con desventajas emocionales o mentales y ?sta es una vista muy buena a lo qu? le sucede a la gente que sufre momentos traum?ticos en sus vidas y c?mo el sufrimiento se manifiesta, superando totalmente a los pacientes. En fin, esto es una buena pel?cula sobre la familia, la amistad, y los muchos obst?culos en la vida que debemos superar para seguir adelante.

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Mediocre

Vanesa Legorburu | 12/14/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"La trama de esta pelicula fue muy poco convincente para mi gusto. Se trata de un chico que queda traumado despues de que su madre se va de la casa y su amiguita/novia tambien se va de viaje sin despedirse. No se, a mi me parece que la relacion entre el trauma y los acontecimientos que provocan el trauma, estan muy fuera de proporcion.
Lo mas divertido de esta pelicula fue el personaje de Alfredo Casero."