It’s no news that Martín Bossi is an accomplished comedian. More exactly, he’s arguably the best local impersonator seen in quite some time. He’s a regular guest at many TV shows, and the celebrated star of the successful Bing Bang Show. And now with Un Amor en tiempos de Selfies, written and directed by Emilio Tamer, he’s had his big cinematic break. He plays Lucas, a somewhat phobic stand-up comedian who’s also a drama teacher. And while Bossi seems to be a better impersonator than a regular actor, the truth is that his performance in the film is decent enough for a first time in cinema. The bad news is that the film is actually pretty unremarkable.
Un Amor en tiempos de Selfies tries to be a dramatic comedy with a love story as well as a meditation on the impact of social networks on relationships — all at once. And while each narrative line is more or less developed, the huge problem is that what happens and how it happens is annoyingly predictable and trite. If you experience a constant feeling of déjà vu throughout the entire film, you are not to blame.
It's actually as if you were watching a formulaic US mainstream movie (so forget all about authentic local colour), and yet the main elements are wrongly executed. The timing is off-cue, the dialogue is seldom snappy or witty, the supporting characters are one dimensional, and the circumstances all characters are involved into are hardly hilarious. Consider that you’ve seen all this stuff before and in much better shape.
So you have Lucas — an anxious, quirky stand-up comedian, who eventually meets Guadalupe (María Soledad Zamarbide), a pretty and shy marketing executive who’s afraid of speaking in public and signs up for classes with Lucas. Yes, they do fall in love, and yes, they do break up too. Because she wants to turn him into a successful, well-known artist whereas he wants to keep his low profile. Despite what they feel for each other, they belong to different worlds. So Lucas breaks up via a home video he sends her. Disheartened, Guadalupe sends the video to a friend and asks for advice. Eventually, the video will be online for everyone to see. And so will be Guadalupe’s angry reply to Lucas. It’s love and hate on social networks now.
The fact that Martín Bossi is convincing as Lucas is hampered by another fact: María Soledad Zamarbide’s performance as Guadalupe is so overdone that it hurts. She just never rings true because you see her acting from beginning to end. Pretty much the same goes for most of the supporting actors. Last but not least, Un Amor en tiempos de Selfies doesn’t even last two hours, but it many times feels overlong and never-ending.
Production notes:
Un Amor en tiempos de Selfies (Argentina, 2014) Directed by Emilio Tamer. Written by Emilio Tamer and Federico Finkielstain. With Martín Bossi, Manuel Wirtz, María Soledad Zamarbide, Roberto Carnaghi, Luis Rubio, Jorge “Carna” Crivelli, Beto Casella, Graciela Borges. Cinematography: Rolo Pulpeiro. Music: Manuel Wirtz. Editing: Anabella Lattanzio. Running time: 116 minutes.
