Venice Review: Ricardo Darín In Santiago Mitre’s ‘Argentina, 1985’

Clayton Davis Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each individual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday. LAST UPDATED: Sept. 20, 2022 CATEGORY COMMENTARY: A large wave of official submissions have been announced with some expected and a few surprising choices. Some early favorites are already out of the running after not being chosen by their respective countries. Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show” will represent India instead of the global box office smash “RRR” from S.S. Rajamouli, while Monica Stan and George Chiper’s “Immaculate” will define Romania in the race instead of Cristian Mungiu’s “R.M.N.” The Telluride and TIFF hit “Godland” from Hlynur Pálmason was also passed over for “Beautiful Beings” from Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson

Pablo Sandoval Set to be unveiled at this week’s San Sebastian Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, “Bajo el Mismo Sol” has secured a first co-production deal ahead of the festival.  Argentina’ Pucará Cine has boarded the project, reteaming with lead producer Wooden Boat Productions in the Dominican Republican on director Ulises Porra’s third feature. Both production companies co-produced Porra’s most recent movie, “Carajita” (2021), co-directed by Silvina Schnicer, which won the New Directors award at last year’s San Sebastián, swept Guadalajara, and collected hardware at Argentina’s Mar del Plata and the Miami Film Festival.

Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-TV market.  Co-organized by Cannes Marché du Film, Cannes Film Festival and Argentina’s INCAA film-TV agency, Ventana Sur runs Nov. 28–Dec.2.  Announced Sunday at a San Sebastian press conference, Spanish Screenings on Tour will see five projects or productions-in-post from Spain play at each of four key Ventana Sur forums. These take in animation platform Animation! where five titles will be presented as part of a Spanish Screenings Anímate initiative, its genre market Blood Window (Spanish Screamings), women directors’ project section Punto de Género (Spanish Screenings Perspectives) and TV focus SoloSerieS (Spanish Screenings Series), said Beatriz Navas, director general of Spain’s ICAA film-TV agency. 

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Christopher Vourlias Paris-based sales agency and production company Luxbox has released the trailer for “Trenque Lauquen,” Argentine director-producer Laura Citarella’s adventure mystery that has its world premiere Sept. 8 in the Horizons sidebar of the Venice Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer, which can be seen below. Filmed in two parts, Citarella’s fourth feature begins with a pair of men both searching for a woman who has mysteriously vanished. While one of them claims to be her boyfriend, the other has also forged an intimate bond with the missing woman, with a series of flashbacks revealing that he’s also fallen in love with her.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Paris-based sales agency and production company Luxbox has snagged the rights to “Trenque Lauquen,” the fourth feature by Argentine director-producer Laura Citarella, ahead of its Sept. 8 world premiere in the Venice Horizons sidebar. The pick-up continues Luxbox’s strong line in Latin American titles, seen this year in Sundance entry “Dos Estaciones” and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “1976.” Filmed in two parts, “Trenque Lauquen” begins with a couple of men, Rafael and Ezequiel, who are on the road, both searching for a woman, Laura, who has vanished. 

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Five years on from their thrilling diplomatic drama “The Summit,” icons of Argentinian cinema Santiago Mitre (“White Elephant,” “Paulina,” ) and Ricardo Darín (“Wild Tales,” “The Secret in Their Eyes”) have teamed up once more for the Venice-bound “Argentina, 1985.” This time, however, their collaboration is much more fact than fiction, as the film seeks to bring one of Argentina’s most historic judicial trials to the big screen.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Rather like the arc of the moral universe, “Argentina, 1985” is long, but bends toward justice. Effectively dramatizing the country’s landmark Trial of the Juntas, history’s first instance of a civilian justice system convicting a military dictatorship, Santiago Mitre’s broad, sprawling, heart-on-sleeve courtroom saga may draw from the same nightmarish period of history that has informed much of Argentine cinema’s most essential, haunting works — from 1985’s Oscar-winning “The Official Story” to last year’s “Azor” — but eschews any subtle arthouse stylings for a storytelling sensibility as robustly populist as anything by Sorkin or Spielberg. Small wonder, then, that Amazon Studios has boarded a film clearly aiming to be both a domestic smash and an international crossover hit — buoyed by the reliable star power of Ricardo Darín, his signature suaveness tempered by a walrus mustache and boxy ‘80s frames as Julio Strassera, the dogged prosecutor who took on this charged, against-the-odds case. Though a warmly received premiere in competition at Venice will set it on the right path, “Argentina, 1985” is, appropriately enough, a people’s film about people’s justice, balancing tear-jerking historical catharsis with touches of droll domestic comedy, and set to draw crowds on enthusiastic word of mouth.

Anna Marie de la Fuente For Argentina’s Santiago Mitre, his courtroom drama “Argentina 1985,” a Golden Lion contender at the 79th Venice Film Festival, is an examination of the machinations of power from within, as were his past four features. But unlike those films, “Argentina 1985” is based on a real event, the trial of Argentina’s military leaders who ruled with brutal impunity until democracy was finally restored in 1983. The civil trial is considered one of the most significant in modern world history, along with the Nuremberg trials when defeated Nazi leaders were put on the stand. The difference in this David vs. Goliath story is that Argentina’s military junta still had a grip on power when they were taken to court for their crimes.

Matt Damon is enjoying his family vacation. The actor has been photographed throughout Buenos Aires, enjoying the city’s sights and cuisine accompanied by his daughters and his wife, Luciana Barroso, who was born in Argentina.Ben Affleck spotted leaving with Matt Damon after wedding with Jennifer LopezMatt Damon and his family enjoy their vacation in ArgentinaThis week, he was photographed in the restaurant Don Julio, ranked as one of the year’s 15 best restaurants in the word.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Directing Penélope Cruz in Venice competition title “L’immensità,” Italy’s Emanuele Crialese is teaming with Argentina’s Nicolás Gil Lavedra to produce “Rona,” the second feature by Emiliano Torres, writer-director of San Sebastian Special Jury Prize winner “The Winter.” Produced by Crialese’s Italy-based Now and Buenos Aires Gamán Cine, set up by Lavedra and Torres, “Rona” is being structured as a majority European production and will shoot mainly in English. Lavedra, whose recent production credits include Paz Encina’s Rotterdam Tiger Award winner “Eami,” will oversee production.  “Rona” is one of the highest-profile of 14 titles at this year’s San Sebastian Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, one of the Spanish festival’s centrepiece industry events.

Matt Damon and his family are enjoying themselves in Argentina. Damon, who’s married to Argentinean Luciana Barroso, has enjoyed the city thoroughly, spending time in restaurants and the city’s most famous hotspots while also dealing with some business matters.Ben Affleck spotted leaving with Matt Damon after wedding with Jennifer LopezUpdates: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck officially married! ‘It ended with a kiss’The photos show Damon and his family enjoying the city and greeting some friends. According to the Argentinean publication La Nacion, Damon enjoyed his Sunday in a very Argentinean fashion: eating steak at one of the city’s best restaurants and watching the Boca Juniors soccer game on TV.Damon and his family also made stops in some of Buenos Aires’ most famous pastry shops and walked through the streets of Palermo, one of the city’s most prominent neighborhoods.