'Tan de repente' (Suddenly) is wrongly considered a landmark in the so-called 'New Argentine Cinema'. Who establishes those landmarks? Certainly a bunch of foreign critics and festival prize-givers with a weakness for art-house films, especially if they come from third-world (poor) countries. This one suits them perfectly; it comes from Argentina (country that has been a lot in the map recently due to its huge economic crisis), it is shot in grainy black and white, it contains some raw dialogue, a realistic though stylized look (the image treatment reminds of the superior Stranger than Paradise) and some extreme nudity. The perfect cocktail. But to be honest with it, the film is dull as a film can be and has some of the most abominable performances seen recently on screen. The unimaginative ultra-slow pace, divertive storytelling and the keenness of portraying the ugly from a low point of view doesn't help either. Lerman's film may fool a good few abroad, with its exasperating still photo of country skies, high-tension wires and rear-view mirrors, but ultimately cannot hide the director's inability to reach any standard of storytelling. It is a pity that this is the kind of argentine film commercially released internationally, for the embarrassment of argentinians abroad and the regular filmgoer.
Review of Suddenly
