Empty Nest

Does the world need another cinematic treatise on middle-aged male malaise? Before you answer, keep in mind that this elegiac drama from Argentine filmmaker Daniel Burman (Family Law) benefits from a stream-of-consciousness narrative that breaks up its ode to over-the-hill angst. Still, the longer the film’s fiftysomething playwright (Martínez) watches his marriage wither, his kids grow up and his teeth rot—Freudian analysts, take note—the more psychological acuity gives way to the usual obsessing over loss and nubile females. Anyone who thinks a Fellini-esque dream sequence isn’t just around the corner is fooling themselves.