A ventriloquist, a dummy, and a risky secret
Juan (Carlos Belloso) is man in his early fifties that has certainly not found his calling. He is, in fact, a wannabe con artist at best. Deep down, he hopes to become a renowned artist, so he thinks of a somewhat effective scheme: he will be a ventriloquist and he will have the best dummies there are, with the kind of show that will blow the audience’s mind. He wants to be a regular star at the many theatres on the legendary Corrientes Avenue. But how is he going to do that?
Well, the dummy is no dummy, to begin with. He is Mario (Tomás Pozzi), a young man like any other except for his diminutive height. His features don’t resemble those of a dwarf at all — he’s even kind of boyish looking. It’s his height, make-up, and dummy training that will hopefully do the trick. So Juan indeed becomes the ventriloquist and Juanito (Mario), the fake dummy. Together, they tour the province of Buenos Aires in an old bus painted in vivid colours, which is in fact their itinerant stage for their show.
Soon enough, they meet Lucía (Emilia Attias), a gorgeous flamenco dancer they both fall in love with. She is not only beautiful — she’s also kind and caring. On the not so bright side, she keeps a secret regarding a love affair gone awry. There’s something in her past still haunting her; something that will prove to be dangerous not only for her, but also for Juan and Mario. Something that will surface only in the very end.
Give or take, that’s a possible synopsis for Argentine filmmaker Becky Garello’s debut feature El secreto de Lucía, which portrays a small universe of somewhat bizarre beings, lonely souls in search of love and recognition, lovable losers with unexpected dark sides. As far as the characters go, El secreto de Lucía offers originality and the kind of tenderness you only find in films that care for antiheroes that have nothing to lose. Moreover, it’s a film with an atmosphere all of its own thanks to an expressive use of cinematography and enticing art direction. You can feel the characters’ moods and the feel of the places, as well as sense their pulse and see their many shades. So far, so good.
However, there’s an unsolvable problem, and it’s the film’s genre, and its tone. Leaving aside the fact that the secret Lucía holds turns out to be not that interesting at all — and so her character immediately becomes less intriguing — the filmmaker has opted to tell this story in the vein of a rather realistic drama. But the offbeat nature of the characters and their universe would have been much better examined under the prism of sheer melodrama with hints of the grotesque. Exaggeration was the real key here. That was the way to go. Instead, when treated with the naturalism of a regular drama and with so much seriousness, the whole affair turns into little credible stuff. It feels forced and contrived and the fun and excitement wears thin too soon.
El secreto de Lucía had good potential, but has been wrongly developed and conventionally executed. Too bad because the performances of the ventriloquist, the fake dummy, and the real beauty are as appealing as they are heart rendering.
