Customer Reviews

Family Law

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

DERECHO DE FAMILIA (FAMILY LAW), the third and final installment in Daniel Burman's trilogy, finds the lead character Ariel Perleman (Daniel Hendler) teaching law at the university, while giving us a play-by-play of the events that lead up to his being there. What's more, we get a sense of the great divide that exists between him and his father, who he only refers to as "Perleman Senior" (Arturo Goetz), who practices law out of a firm where several people feel his son should work as well. It's never really clear where the breakdown in their relationship took place. What is evident is that Ariel is reluctant to form any interpersonal relationships, other than the one he builds with his wife, Sandra (Julieta Diaz), who stands out in the crowd of his students--many of them young and female. Sandra teaches Pilates, and Ariel takes her classes to get closer to her, after she drops out of his law class. They marry and have a beautiful son, Gaston. Ariel fails to form a bond with him and Sandra must juggle all activities that involve their child, while Ariel remains off to the side. This is truly a character study in broken relationships and how they effect and alter those involved.

Daniel Burman succeeds in creating a beautiful, humorous and touching film. It engages and touches your heart, all the while making you think about the consequences that evolve out of estrangement and emotional abandonment. What's more, sometimes we have the power to turn this pain around if we're sincere. I don't want to ruin the evolution of the plot development here. You're just going to have watch it and see for yourself. This is just beautiful.

This is a beautiful movie about the process of going from being a son to being a father. The role of the son is played by the Uruguayan Daniel Hendler, and he plays this part to perfection. He also gets the opportunity to be the narrator of the story, which is a prominent feature of the movie, and which he performs with a great versatility, giving his voice the necessary tone to convey the mood of the situation.

Daniel Hendler portrays Dr. Ariel Perelman, a lawyer that works as a professor at the university and as a defense attorney for the state. He has a peculiar relationship with his father, sometimes showing admiration, and at others being distant. The father, Perelman Sr. has a colorful set of clients, and he uses his people's skills to get through his day as quickly and efficiently as possible. The narration of one of his normal days at the beginning of the movie provides great insight into how things usually work in Latin America.

When Ariel becomes infatuated with Sandra, a student in his class, he decides right there and then that once classes are over, she is going to become his wife. And surprisingly this works, but not after a series of pilates classes and a civil trial. They soon have a son, and now Ariel has to adapt to being a father and trying to establish a bond that will not end up like the one he has with his own father.

The film has a good balance between serious / dramatic moments and others that are funny and relaxed. One of my favorite aspects was how the culture from the Rio de la Plata is incorporated in the movie, to show the idiosyncrasies of its people. For example, the name in the lobby of the building in which Dr. Perelman has his study shows his name as PE ELMAN, and this has been the case for more than twenty years; it has never been fixed because people understand it anyway. There are many other examples of cases in which the culture plays a salient role in this film, but I will let you figure them out by yourself when you watch it, which you should most definitely do.

"Derecho de familia" (="Family law") is a charming Argentinian film directed by Daniel Burman. This movie is about the relationship between a father and his son, and how the son learns to be a father himself, trying to avoid making the same mistakes his father made with him. It is also a film about accepting change, growing up, love, and Argentina.

I know, those are many subjects, but Hendler somehow manages to delve upon them all in an engaging way. The results are sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, but always interesting. That is the reason why I give "Derecho de familia" 3.5 stars out of 5, and recommend it to you :)

Belen Alcat

This is the marvelous final installment of the three-film autobiographical series of films by Argetinian director Daniel Burman, reminding me somewhat of Truffaut's early films, that follow the central character, played in all three films by Daniel Hendler, to this final point of marraige, fatherhood and new maturity. The films are each really about fatherhood and living in the shadow of a father. While my favorite remains the middle film, "Lost Embrace," for its wonderful, quirky characters, its spirit and humaneness, all three films, which begin with "Waiting For the Messiah" and are set in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires, are among my recent favorites. "Family Law" rounds off the tale with loss and delicacy and wry wisdom.

In "Family Law," Ariel Perleman (Daniel Hendler) is a lawyer who also teaches law at a local university. He has grown up in his father's (Arturo Goetz) shadow, but doesn't seem to connect with him emotionally. Later, after Ariel has married and has a young son and is still practicing law, his law office is unexpectedly closed for two weeks. So he spends his time at his father's work and at home with his young son Gaston (Eloy Burman). This experience has a real effect on him as he starts to form a bond with both his father and his son. To me this movie was about a man who did not really understand what it meant to be successful and fulfilled until after he understood the importance of being a husband and a father, and truly having an emotional relationship with his family.

It might seem a trivial point to some, but I was so happy to see Eloy Burman's (Gaston) name on the movie credits on the DVD cover--just as it should have been. If this had been any other child instead of the director's son, he would have just been shoved off to the side as children usually are. So I want to say "Thank You" Daniel Burman for sharing your beautiful son with your viewers. He will forever be in my heart and mind as one of the most important people in this film.

This film, set in Buenos Aires, is a loving story of father, son, and grandson. Recently wed young lawyer and university teacher, Perelman, lives a buttoned down life that works as regular as clockwork until his kindergarten-aged son, aging father, and Pilates instructor wife help him break out of the mold. Daniel Hendler is wonderful as the 30-something protagonist suddenly set adrift by structural problems that close down the office building where he works.

A deft teacher, whose lectures to large classes are interrupted by staged intrusions of men posing as penguin advocates and devoted former students, he is concerned as a trial lawyer with the unreliability of perception. There's much, he learns, that he has never seen with his own eyes until now, as he grapples with parenthood and the odd behavior of his father, whose practice of law is at opposite poles from his own and whose career-long personal assistant begins to look more like she's also been his mistress. The film wants to charm, and for the most part it does, with a sweetly told "coming of age" story, for a man of principle who sleeps with his suit on.

This movie illustrates the life of a young man and his family in Argentina, where his father is an attorney, and wants the son to resume the law practice.

This film examines the rrelationship of an established, well-respected lawyer (Bernardo Perelman, played by Arturo Goetz) and his brilliant, up-and-coming lawyer son (Ariel, played by Daniel Hendler). Since the father and son work together in a two-man law firm the plot amplifies inevitable Oedipal confflicts. Ariel has a young son, and muses a great deal about what it means to be a father.
Such a film demands strong acting, since much of the complications and conflicts which develop inside the two main characters. Arturo Goetz is a very fine, who is a well known actor in the Spanish-speaking world, gives a solid performance as Bernardo. A winner of many awards in Argentian cinema, Goetz has recently appeared in the English-speakng world as a minor character in "No Country for Old Men." He certainly projects the image of the honored and well-respected senior lawyer. Bernardo's private life also comes under Ariel's scrutiny, and adds to the complexity of the conflict.
The highest acting honors, however, must go to Daniel Hendler. This actor is currently a hot property in Argentina. He has established a reputation as a young leading man in a number of films, many of them dealing with Jewish life in Buenos Aires. He has a very fine face, not conventionally handsome, but certaily fine to look at. Parts like this one bring out the best in him, as we see immediately his deep character. As they used to say in Hollywood, "the camera loves him," and he conveys much subtilty in miniscule gestures.
"Family Law" is not really a feel-good family movie, but family dynamics drive the plot. An important matter for this family is their Jewishness. If you've ever been to Buenos Aires, you know that the city has a fine, strong Jewish sub-culture. Also, if you've been to Buenos Aires and love the city as much as I do, the many outdoor shots will please you. It's not that the city is a full-blown character in the film, but the film is well shot, and the cirector, Daniel Burman, is particularly adept at using BA as the scenery.

Argentine movie makers seem to make it a point not to tell a story in their movies.
Instead, an Argentine movie has to be plotless, be somewhat Costumbrista, slightly testimonial and, most of all, have a "French ending" to leave the viewer wondering.

It has to be pretentious and boring, because Argentine viewers do not go to the cinema to enjoy themselves, they go to the cinema to be educated. Let's leave those minor things like create a good story to those stupid gringos, we are beyond that.


Unfortunately, this movie follows all those guidelines.
Which is a pity, because the acting is, in general, acceptable (except for Adriana Aizemberg, who manages to bring the movie to a stop by overacting in her only 30-second speech).
But in all justice, no character is engaging, and there is only so much the actors can do.

I enjoyed the voice-over by the protagonist (performed by Daniel Hendler), with his cultivated, yet young and typically River Plate accent.