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Ricardo Larrain's 1991 debut, La Frontera (The Border) - a powerful and moving reflection on the nature of exile - was one of the biggest box-office successes in Chilean film history, even holding off James Cameron's T2 for a short while. Border was quite a hit internationally too, taking the Silver Bear at the 1992 Berlin Festival and a prize for Best Spanish Language Film at Spain's Goya awards in the same year. Larrain's $ 1 million follow-up, the Spanish/Chilean co-production El Entusiasmo, opened in Santiago last December but didn't repeat the earlier film's success - seven years is a long time in the Latin American film industry. Set in the north of Chile in the first half of this decade, and shot in a style in which sweeps of time and perspective alternate with intimately realistic detail, Larrain's film stays true to type. |
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It is the story of beautiful couple Fernando (Alvaro Escobar) and Isabel (Maribel Verd) who, together with their young son, Miguel, go to live in the Chilean capital. They set up an adventure tourism business which quickly becomes successful, but Fernando's idealistic enthusiasm - he's not amoral, but feels he has to behave tough in a tough man's world - drives him to buy a share in a dodgy real estate company, which is where the moral problems begin. Fernando's cynical friend, Guillermo (Alvaro Rudolphy), and Isabel (Carmen Maura) complete the cast of this morality tale about the hard road towards experience, where professional and personal demands always seem to be in conflict. The presence of two 'name' Spanish actors - Verd and Maura - virtually guarantees a theatrical opening in Spain, bringing a degree of economic support to the project. Verd, having shown her acting worth in Ricardo Franco's Lucky Star (1997), has recently finished shooting Carlos Saura's Goya, while Maura is currently combining TV work in Spain with developing an international profile which saw her play in Andre Techine's Alice And Martin earlier this year. Jonathan Hollander |
| Film Credits | |
| Producer | Ricardo Larrain, Eduardo Campoy, Nadialie Trafford | Director | Ricardo Larrain |
| Screenplay | Ricardo Larrain |
| Photo | EstebanCourtalon |
| Editing | Danielle Fillios |
| Decor | Patricio Aguilar |
| Music | Jorge Arriagada |
| Cast | Maribel Verd, Alvaro Escobar, Alvaro Rudolphy, Carmen Maura |
| Running time | 116 min |
| Sales | Media Luna Int'l |
