El abrazo partido
Encyclopedia
Lost Embrace (2004
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...

) is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 comedy drama film, directed by Daniel Burman
Daniel Burman
Daniel Burman is a film director, screenplay writer, and producer.According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for Mabuse, a cinema magazine, Daniel Burman is one of the members of the so-called "New Argentina Cinema" which began c...

 and written by Burman and Marcelo Birmajer
Marcelo Birmajer
Marcelo Birmajer is an Argentine Jewish author. The grandson of Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian and Syrian immigrants. Best known for writing the script for the 2004 film El abrazo partido. Birmajer's work usually revolves around the Porteño neighbourhood of Once and its colorful inhabitants...

. The picture features Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler is an Uruguayan film, television, and theatre actor who works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, where he lives. He is known for his starring roles in films such as Bottom of the Sea, Family Law, The Paranoids, Phase 7, and award winning Lost Embrace by director Daniel Burman, with...

, Adriana Aizemberg
Adriana Aizemberg
Adriana Aizemberg is an Argentine film and television actress.She has appeared in film since the year 1967 making her debut in El ABC del amor making some sixteen appearances to date....

, Jorge D'Elía
Jorge D'Elía
Jorge D'Elía is a film and television actor.Two of his most recent films have been critically well received: El Abrazo partido and El Aura .-Filmography :...

, among others.

The drama was Argentina's official choice for the 2004 Oscar Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

, Foreign Language film category.

The comedy-drama tells of Ariel Makaroff, the grandson of Holocaust-era Polish refugees, who is currently on a complex search for his personal and cultural identity.

Plot

The episodes in the life of a Jewish family in the Once
Balvanera
Balvanera is a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Origin of Name and Alternative Names:The official name, Balvanera, is the name of the parroquia centered around the church of Nuestra Señora de Balvanera, erected in 1831.The zone around Corrientes avenue is known as Once after Plaza Once de...

 neighborhood
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

 of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 and the other shopkeepers in a low-rent commercial gallery are depicted in the story.

The narrator, Ariel Makaroff (Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler is an Uruguayan film, television, and theatre actor who works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, where he lives. He is known for his starring roles in films such as Bottom of the Sea, Family Law, The Paranoids, Phase 7, and award winning Lost Embrace by director Daniel Burman, with...

), is the son of Sonia Makaroff (Adriana Aizemberg
Adriana Aizemberg
Adriana Aizemberg is an Argentine film and television actress.She has appeared in film since the year 1967 making her debut in El ABC del amor making some sixteen appearances to date....

) who was deserted by her husband (Jorge D'Elía
Jorge D'Elía
Jorge D'Elía is a film and television actor.Two of his most recent films have been critically well received: El Abrazo partido and El Aura .-Filmography :...

) when he went to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 in 1973 to fight in the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

. Yet, the father is in touch with Sonia via telephone weekly and supports Ariel and his brother Joseph (Sergio Boris
Sergio Boris
Sergio Boris is an Argentine film actor.Two of his most recent films have been the critically well received: Diarios de motocicleta and El Abrazo partido .-Filmography:*Sólo por hoy aka Just for Today...

). Sonia runs a lingerie shop in the gallery.
Ariel is a young man in a hurry without much of a sense of direction. He's having an affair with Rita (Silvina Bosco
Silvina Bosco
Silvina Bosco is an Argentine actress.Although she has worked more in television in series such as Chiquititas she has appeared in a number of popular Argentine films such as Buenos Aires me mata , La Fuga, Animalada and Arregui, la noticia del día , and Apasionados in 2002.In 2004 she appeared in...

), an older woman, pines for his former girlfriend Estella (Melina Petriella
Melina Petriella
Melina Petriella is an Argentine movie and television actress.-Filmography:* Besos en la frente * Esperando al Mesías aka Waiting for the Messiah* Nocturno * El Abrazo partido aka Lost Embrace...

), and fantasizes of emigrating to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, where his family came from during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

He carps at his grandmother (Rosita Londner) for immigration documents that will support his claim to Polish citizenship as he wants to become
"European." This forces his grandmother to remember her memories of Holocaust Poland.

At one point, the shop owners organize a race against another group of merchants. They hope to earn a cash purse and fix up the exterior of their gallery and install air conditioning.

Other characters include: a large Italian family whose noisy arguments drown out the radios in their radio repair shop; a quiet Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n couple who run a feng shui
Feng shui
Feng shui ' is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu ....

boutique; Mitelman (Diego Korol) who runs a travel agency, but which is really a front for currency smuggling; and a solitary stationer named Osvaldo (Isaac Fajm).

Right before the big race his father suddenly shows up in Buenos Aires. His mother confesses to Ariel that his father left Argentina and the family because she had a brief affair with Osvaldo, the retailer next door. It was a one time thing and did not mean anything but it ruined the marriage. Ariel finally gets to hear his father's side of the story: he could not get over the fact that his mother had betrayed him with Osvaldo. Elías can finally enfold his son in a long-overdue embrace, and Ariel embraces his father as well in the closing moments of the film.

The grandmother sings a klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...

 song over the closing credits.

Cast

  • Daniel Hendler
    Daniel Hendler
    Daniel Hendler is an Uruguayan film, television, and theatre actor who works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, where he lives. He is known for his starring roles in films such as Bottom of the Sea, Family Law, The Paranoids, Phase 7, and award winning Lost Embrace by director Daniel Burman, with...

    as Ariel Makaroff, a young Argentinian desperately on a complex search for his personal and cultural identity. He's upset at his father abandoned him and his family in the early 1970s.
  • Adriana Aizemberg
    Adriana Aizemberg
    Adriana Aizemberg is an Argentine film and television actress.She has appeared in film since the year 1967 making her debut in El ABC del amor making some sixteen appearances to date....

    as Sonia Makaroff, wants to get on with her life, and seems to have forgiven her former husband. She runs "Elias Creations" at the Gallery and loves to dance to Jewish folk songs with her boyfriend Marcos.
  • Sergio Boris
    Sergio Boris
    Sergio Boris is an Argentine film actor.Two of his most recent films have been the critically well received: Diarios de motocicleta and El Abrazo partido .-Filmography:*Sólo por hoy aka Just for Today...

    as Joseph Makaroff, is absorbed in his business, which involves importing novelties and maintaining elaborate feuds.
  • Diego Korol as Mitelman, is Ariel's best friend who's too fascinated by his Lithuanian secretary to think about anything else.
  • Silvina Bosco
    Silvina Bosco
    Silvina Bosco is an Argentine actress.Although she has worked more in television in series such as Chiquititas she has appeared in a number of popular Argentine films such as Buenos Aires me mata , La Fuga, Animalada and Arregui, la noticia del día , and Apasionados in 2002.In 2004 she appeared in...

    as Rita, runs the internet shop and seduces Ariel every chance she gets.
  • Rosita Londner as abuela de Ariel, who fled Poland during World War II with her husband. She's also a talented singer who gave up singing after she came to Argentina.
  • Isaac Fajm as Osvaldo, is the owner of a stationery store. We find out late in the film that he had a brief affair with Sonia Makaroff.
  • Jorge D'Elía
    Jorge D'Elía
    Jorge D'Elía is a film and television actor.Two of his most recent films have been critically well received: El Abrazo partido and El Aura .-Filmography :...

    as Elías Makaroff, the father of the Makaroff family who left for Israel in the early 1970s, ostensibly to fight in the Yom Kippur War.
  • Melina Petriella
    Melina Petriella
    Melina Petriella is an Argentine movie and television actress.-Filmography:* Besos en la frente * Esperando al Mesías aka Waiting for the Messiah* Nocturno * El Abrazo partido aka Lost Embrace...

     as Estela
  • Atilio Pozzobon as Saligani Papá
  • Mónica Cabrera as Saligani Mamá
  • Franco Tirri as Saligani Hijo
  • Luciana Dulizky as Saligani Hija
  • Eloy Burman as Saligani Bebé
  • Juan José Flores Quispe as Ramón
  • Catalina Cho as Ho Kim
  • Pablo Kim as Kim
  • Wolfrans Hecht as Polish consul
  • Salo Pasik as Marcos

Background

Lost Embrace is part of a loose trilogy of films. The other two are: Esperando al mesías (2000) and Derecho de familia (2006). All were written and directed by Burman and star Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler
Daniel Hendler is an Uruguayan film, television, and theatre actor who works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, where he lives. He is known for his starring roles in films such as Bottom of the Sea, Family Law, The Paranoids, Phase 7, and award winning Lost Embrace by director Daniel Burman, with...

. They are largely autobiographical, dealing with the life of a young Jew in contemporary Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

.

Title

The name of the film in Spanish is an intentional pun: abrazo means "embrace" and does not make sense followed by partido "broken" or "gone," but the idiom a brazo partido, literally "with a broken arm," means "to fight forcefully, strenuously." It could also be understood as "the halved hug," that is, an incompleted hug or made with just one arm.

Distribution

The film was first featured at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

 on February 9, 2004. It opened in Argentina on March 25, 2004.

The film screened in many film festivals, including: the Helsinki International Film Festival, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

; the Warsaw Film Festival, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

; the Pusan International Film Festival
Pusan International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

; the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

, USA; the Bangkok World Film Festival, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

; the São Paulo International Film Festival
São Paulo International Film Festival
The São Paulo International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in São Paulo, Brazil since 1976. In 2004 Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was a member of the jury.-International Jury Award:*2001: The New Country ...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

; the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...

, UK; and others.

Critical reception

Film critic A.O. Scott, film critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

,
liked the direction of the film, writing, "Lost Embrace never feels strenuous or overdone. The tenderness of the family drama at its center, and the deep, hard-to-articulate feelings of a son for his enigmatic father and his heroically patient mother, emerge with a charming haphazardness. The sly artfulness is apparent only in retrospect. This is a small movie about a small world, but its modesty is part of what makes it durable and satisfying."

Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...

, film critic for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

,
liked the films direction and wrote, "Director (and co-writer) Burman displays an assured but intimate filmmaking style, at once casual, playful and idiosyncratic. With key sections of the film related by Ariel in voice-over, it's also a style that fosters complicity and connection with a central character who otherwise might not be a personal favorite."

Peter Keough, critic for the Boston Phoenix, also liked Burman's direction, though at times he said the film felt a bit derivative, and wrote, "Burman captures with an affection and an irony that match François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

's, though his stylistic mannerisms can seem a little imitative."

The Boston Globe film critic, Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at The Boston Globe where he reviews films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also make regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and do the weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com...

, was impressed by the comedy, and wrote, "Lost Embrace has a novelist's human touch. Were it a book, it would go somewhere on the shelf with Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer is an American author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...

 and early Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...

. It also possesses traces of early Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....

 and his wit with characters, as well as some of Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....

's random silliness. But unlike in Godard and Anderson, an emotional undercurrent runs beneath this movie, and Burman makes that feel good without feeling strained."

Currently, the film has a 85% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, based on forty-six reviews.

Awards

Wins
  • Bangkok World Film Festival: Best Film; 2004.
  • Berlin International Film Festival
    Berlin International Film Festival
    The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

    : Silver Berlin Bear; Best Actor, Daniel Hendler; Jury Grand Prix, Daniel Burman; 2004.
  • Lleida Latin-American Film Festival
    Lleida Latin-American Film Festival
    The Lleida Latin-American Film Festival is a cinema festival that takes place in Lleida, Spain awarding Latin American films. It is organised by the Latin American Centre of Lleida and is sponsored by the city council , the University of Lleida and La Caixa...

    : Best Director; Best Film; ICCI Screenplay Award, Marcelo Birmajer and Daniel Burman; 2004.
  • Clarín Awards
    Clarín Awards
    The Clarín Entertainment Awards is an award program that have taken place in Argentina since 1998. They are more commonly known as the Clarín Awards....

    : Best Film; Best Film Screenplay, Daniel Burman and Marcelo Birmajer; Best Supporting Film Actress, Adriana Aizemberg; 2004.
  • Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Supporting Actress, Adriana Aizemberg; 2005.


Nominations
  • Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Berlin Bear, Daniel Burman; 2004.
  • Mar del Plata Film Festival
    Mar del Plata Film Festival
    The Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...

    : Best Film, Daniel Burman; 2004.
  • Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Actor (Mejor Actor Protagonico), Daniel Hendler; Best Director (Mejor Director), Daniel Burman; Best Editing (Mejor Compaginación), Alejandro Brodersohn; Best Film (Mejor Película); Best Music (Mejor Música), César Lerner; Best New Actress (Mejor Revelación Femenina), Rosita Londner; Best Screenplay, Original (Mejor Guión Original de Ficción), Marcelo Birmajer and Daniel Burman; Best Supporting Actor (Mejor Actor de Reparto), Jorge D'Elía; 2005.

External links

  • El abrazo partido at the cinenacional.com
    Cinenacional.com
    Cinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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