Andy-296 Review of Papeles en el viento

Papeles en el viento (2015)

Well acted and directed, but sentimental and morally questionable

[7/10 · 28 January 2015]

The movie is about three friends, lifelong fans of the Independiente football team, knowing each other since childhood from the neighborhood: Pablo Echarri today is a hotshot lawyer, Diego Pereti is a high school teacher, Pablo Rago tries to make a living (but usually fails) selling stuff at various stores. A fourth friend, Diego Torres, has died recently of cancer. The friend that died was the owner of the rights to a mediocre football player, playing now in the regional leagues, and the movie is basically about how these three, who have inherited the rights to the player, engage in various schemes to try to sell this player to top football teams far above its real price. The schemes they engage are quite dishonest (for example, we see them making a fake video of the player, stealing a car, bribing a journalist to hype the player) but we are asked to find their dishonesty lovable, since it's all done not to enrich themselves but to help the daughter of their late friend. While the movie is well acted and directed and holds our interest, its mixture of saccharine sentimentality with its praise of dishonesty leave us with a bad taste. Based on a novel by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wrote the script. Directed by Juan Taratuto.