Customer Reviews

Intimate Stories

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This wonderful little gem of a road movie follows three characters as they travel from a wide spot in the road on the vast, flat plains of Patagonia in southern Argentina to the port town of San Julián. Made almost entirely with nonprofessional actors, the film is a picaresque sequence of moments in the lives of simple people being their quirky selves. No big adventure or car chases, the story is driven so to speak by an old man's search for a dog, a young mother's appearance on a low-budget TV game show, and a traveling salesman's romantic efforts to impress a storekeeper with just the right birthday cake. If you like little movies about everyday life in its lighter, comic moments, you'll enjoy this one. The DVD includes an informative making-of featurette.

What a wonderful movie. Three people heading into San Julian for different reasons. Don Justo going out to seek his lost dog, Maria to participate in a wheel-of-fortune TV show and the street-smart Roberto to seek elusive love. I was particularly impressed by Roberto's resourcefulness with the birthday cake and his creatively persuasive powers. It is a wonderful concoction of hope, despair, pain and love.

The movie has been made out of nothing (nada). There are no special effects and no action. A very simple fare that'll make you sit back and take a restock of the complex web we have woven around us and how little it takes to be happy.

This is a fantastic Argentine movie that shows life outside Buenos Aires, life in the remote region known as Patagonia. The movie shows different minimal stories, full of beauty, of slowness, of colour. You don't need to know Argentina or Patagonia to enjoy the movie but it helps understand some features or momentos of the film. Especially, life in the country-side. Recommended for anyone who wants to travel to the end of the world and who believes there is something more in life than money and big cities.

"Intimate stories" (= "Historias mínimas") is a simple but enchanting film that allows the spectator to witness some moments in the lives of three very different people that wish only one thing: to reach San Julian.

Reaching San Julian (a nearby Argentinian town) mean something different for each of them. Maria (Javiera Bravo), a young and very poor mother that wishes to win something at a television show; Roberto (Javier Lombardo), a salesman that hopes to buy the perfect cake for the son of the woman he loves in silence; and Don Justo (Antonio Benedicti), an old man that wants to find "Badface", the dog he lost a long time ago...

At first sight, those stories seem unimportant. There is not too much action, and nothing even remotely controversial. However, that is not the point. The point is to appreciate this little jewel for what it is, a collection of real moments, instead of what it is not, a hollywood superproduction. If you are able to do that, you will enjoy the journey of these three characters through the immense and beautiful Patagonia. They are all different, but they share the hope that something good can be found at San Julian.

In my opinion, this small Argentinian film, directed by Carlos Sorín, is not for everybody. On the other hand, those who don't mind the relatively slow pace and pay attention to details are likely to find that they didn't waste their time watching "Intimate stories".

Belen Alcat

This movie show the different views in life. Here we have the story of the old man who lost his dog Malacara. Who goes to find him. The driver who finds solutions on the spot for a cake. finally the young woman who wins a contest for a famous TV show in Chile. She trades her gift for makeup and a restaurant meal. Intimate Stories show us what life brings us and to be more appreciative.

This human interest story (2002) is about three individuals on a journey to the same place, an episode in their simple lives. Filmed in the Patagonias of Argentena, the village of Fitz Roy, with open landscape, wide shots of barren land and emptiness, except for the nature of humanity.

A young mother's name was picked for a drawing on a give-away TV show called Multicolored Casino. An old man learns the whereabouts of his dog "Badface" and is set out to retrieve the dog. It was an accident that left his dog on the road, and the old man believes the dog just up and left the old man. The strongest storyline involves the old man.

The third person, a diet product salesman is on a mission to correct the cake he brought for a woman's child. Since he is confused about the gender of the child, it poses more problems to transform the already decorated cake.

The theme is generosity, kindness and caring by those who lives they touch. The film is low key, without any grand discoveries or dramatic action. Just a peek into the simple lives of normal folks on a mission. Director Carlos Sorin also directed another wonderful moving subtle film with an elderly man in The Window. ....Rizzo

I didn't know what to expect, so I was delightfully surprised by this wonderful movie. As a comparison, if you loved "The Straight Story" you will love "Intimate Stories". Outwardly nothing much happens, but despite their apparent ordinariness and the poverty of their surroundings we all end up caring and rooting for the three main characters: an old man, a middle-aged traveling salesman, and a young mother. The desolate wind-swept scenery of Patagonia is like another character in this subtly told story. A very good movie.

With this film Carlos Sorin has prooved that great cinema doesn't need special effects, superstars or a big budget. He has managed to make a beautiful film just by using a simple plot and simple characters. The film is everything but minimal, Minimal Stories is a big beauty, as beauty as all the minimal things that make life so worth it.

If you want to be deeply touched and moved by a film, then this is the one. Please watch this film, it will stay with you for a long while.

Several stories tie together in this decievingly simple Argentinean film about several average people who find their callings in unexpected ways.

The acting is great, the characters sympathetic but not overdone. If you are a fan of ponderous feel good films, or in the need of a good alternative to hollywood gloss, then this is one comes highly reccomended.