“Historias Minimas” (Intimate Stories), a road film by Carlos Sorin, is a key film in the New Argentine Cinema that has emerged in the past five years. Obviously influenced by Italian neo-realism, this film tells us the story of three individuals -all played by non-professional actors- from a small, impoverished town called Fitz Roy who journey across the plains of La Patagonia to get to San Julian, the nearest city, where the possibility of hope, love, and fame still remains. Few films are able to so successfully situate their characters in a landscape the way this movie does. Here, the desolate Patagonia’s landscape works with the characters and against the characters, providing both a means for escape and the memory of where they come from.
The main character is Don Justo, an old man who lives with his son and daughter-in-law. One afternoon Don Justo sits on the side of the curb, as he does every day, when a man gets off of the bus, walks over to him, and nonchalantly tells him that he saw his dog, Malacara (Badface), in San Julian. The man gets back on the bus and disappears, leaving the old man alone to contemplate the significance of this news. In the middle of the night, Don Justo takes $50 and goes to San Julian to find Malacara, the dog that ran away from him years ago. As he travels to San Julian, he comes across other interesting characters that leave his life as quickly as they enter. From the conversations or mere glances he exchanges with each we get a sense of who he is -stubborn, crabby, unfriendly and as sneaky as a little boy. Despite his social ineptitude, we have nothing but affection for him. Then, he meets a construction worker who offers him food and shelter, and Don Justo finally opens up and explains the purpose of his journey.
The other two principal characters have their own reasons for traveling to San Julian. Maria, a young single mother, is chosen for a TV game show. Seeing that she will soon be on TV –the one connection to the world outside Fitz Roy— Fitz Roy residents cheer her on with pride, encouraging her to travel all the way there with her baby and try to win the grand prize –a food processor (even though Fitz Roy has no electricity). Then there’s Roberto, a traveling salesman, who is in love with a widow from San Julian. To impress her he has a special birthday cake made for her child named Rene. He first thinks that Rene is a boy and orders a soccer ball, but then, unsure about the kid’s gender, he obsessively looks for a baker to make the ball unisex.
These three, overlapping stories are simple (thus the title “Minimal Stories”) but the strong character development makes the viewer care about their seemingly boring lives. Their goals –to get their dog back, to be on TV and get a prize, to find love and the right cake — might seem minimal, especially when compared to the action-packed cinema we’re used to. However, the humorous dialogue, the beautiful cinematography, the great non-professional performances and the direction work together to make a film that is funny, compassionate, and engaging. The film avoids sentimentalism and never judges its characters. “Historias Minimas” manages to keep a sense of humor while telling stories that in another film might be treated as tragedy and in doing so, achieves universality.