HOW MOST THINGS WORK

HOW MOST THINGS WORK
ARGENTINA 2015 (93 min)
Sat May 21 | 5:30pm | SIFF Cinema Uptown
Sun May 22 | 3:30pm | Majestic Bay Theatres
Mon June 6 | 3:00pm | SIFF Cinema Uptown
Director Fernando Salem scheduled to attend May 21 and 22 screenings

Recommended. My favorite scene in the movie is basically the last frame, which one could say a lot about but for concerns about spoilers. This is one of those movies we call, “How people live there”, “there” in this case being rural Argentina. How they do Christmas. What small towns look like. How funerals are done. Real stuff.

I have often thought, while watching a movie, about the actor who has two lines, or even the extras walking by, and thought: this is this person’s big break into show business. Brad Pitt’s first screen appearance is a guy sitting in a courtroom in “All the President’s Men”. I first had this thought as a kid watching a WWII movie of the troops storming a beach and the friend of the lead character gets killed right away, and the lead makes his way to shelter and rallies some guys to storm a bunker. And for some reason I identified with that guy who got shot back there, and always have, and have never known why.

I had this thought about a character in this movie, and 15 minutes later she turned out to be a major character, and she expressed that very thought about movie extras in a way better than I could, and I think now I know why I have always had this reaction.

There Are two other actors with small roles who deliver amazing, soulful performances. I have the sense that one or both of them are well known in Argentina, and agreed to small roles in an indy movie. Or not, but that sort of thing happens a lot, and I think it is a better movie to watch not recognizing such actors.