The Magic Gloves

Los guantes mágicos

Argentina, Netherlands, France, Germany

2003

85 Min

Color

1.85:1

Spanish

Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
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PROD Hernán Musaluppi, Martín Rejtman

CAST Valeria Bertuccelli, Gabriel Fernandez Capello, Cecilia Biagnini, Susana Pampín, Fabían Arenillas, Vicentico, Diego Olivera, Leonardo Azamor

SOUND Guido Berenblum

Locarno (International Competition), Toronto, Vancouver, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary (Forum of Independents), BAFICI

Synopsis

His Renault 12 may be old, crappy, and terribly un-cool, but for 35-year-old car service driver Alejandro it’s a haven of peace and his sole object of desire – besides disco dancing, that is. When the good-natured driver runs into fast-talking self-made “Piraña” one evening, he begins spiraling into an adventure he can’t control. Chance encounters and new friendships with a steadily growing number of lucid, pill-popping psychotics present promising business opportunities. Alejandro suddenly finds himself rich from selling one-size-fits-all “magic gloves”, which also bring porn, dog-walkers, health-spas, and anti-depressants into Alejandro’s life. In this absurdist comedy, Rejtman, a master of deadpan humor, once again gives life to endearingly obsessive characters, offers a unique and un-romanticized view of Buenos Aires, and builds a poetic coherence from apparently banal situations. —Anthology Film Archives

Director

Martín Rejtman

Martín Rejtman (born 1961 in Buenos Aires) is an award winning Argentine film producer, film director, and screenplay writer. He works in the cinema of Argentina.

Rejtman studied filmmaking at New York University, where he had to make one short per week and had to shoot with what was available.

At NYU he established a mode of production embraced by many other young Argentine filmmakers, both before and since: that is, the art of working with a small budget.

Rejtman uses a minimalist style when making films. He said, “When I made Rapado, I felt that Argentine cinema had too much dialogue, and bad dialogue at that. I hate adornments, I hate artifice, I hate anything that’s unnecessary, because there really is nothing beyond the screen.”

Films As Director

Doli vuelve a casa (1986) (short)
Sistema español (1988) (short)
Rapado (1992)
Silvia Prieto (1999)
Los guantes mágicos (2003… read more