Film

Last Images of the Shipwreck (1989)

Director: Eliseo Subiela

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Ensnared in the web of the alluring Estelita (Frenkel), who repeatedly uses a suicidal charade to drum up custom for 'the oldest profession', 40-year-old insurance salesman-cum-author Robert (Quinteros) is introduced to a bizarre family whose lunatic personalities he believes will provide the inspiration for his long-dreamed-of novel: from brother José, a gun-toting psychotic thief with a grudge against God, to brother Claudio, a withdrawn obsessive who methodically removes from his lexicon words for which he no longer has use, Estelita's family is a fictional goldmine. But as the family's initial hostility towards Robert turns to acceptance, he finds his characters demanding answers to their misery, insisting that he rewrite their lives and fill the space left by their long-departed philandering father. Building on a meticulous script, Subiela crafts a finely-honed vision of society in retreat, simultaneously evoking the despair of abandonment and the joyous sparkle of salvation through error. Anchored throughout by resiliently credible performances, this is a unique blend of satirical madness and spine-tingling fantasy.

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