It’s New Year’s Eve, a time for being with your loved ones and for reflecting on the year past and the year to come. For some it can also be a lonely time. The movie opens focusing on some routine activities that don’t appear to be connected and, before long, three distinctly different stories emerge. They all focus on the same theme of middle aged men on their own who appear to be in the same location that is experiencing regular power failures.
Lonely taxi driver Cesar, played by Marcel Keroglian, is forced to endure the evening with his ex-wife’s new family, something he appears to barely tolerate in order to spend time with his daughter. The pair head to an amusement park where they are the only customers and embark on a ferris wheel ride where they get stranded at the top by a blackout.
Then there is Antonio, the magician, played by Roberto Suarez who experiences a roadside breakdown that leaves him stranded overnight with a female stranger; and finally, singer-songwriter Molgota, played by Argentinian singer Daniel Melingo, is let out of prison for the night to perform at a local celebration.
Each man is obviously struggling with his loneliness, the blackouts perhaps making a fine metaphor for the dark and sad times in our lives which are usually short lived and soon replaced with light and colour again. It also reflects the helplessness of being so significantly affected by things that are completely out of our control.
Director and Screenwriter German Tejeira and Director of Photography Magela Crosignani have captured some beautiful images and emotions, which are well accompanied by the charming and gentle score by Bruno Boselli and Gaston Otero.
The mood captured is lightly sad without being depressing, charming without being corny, and understated without being boring. It’s very well directed and will appeal to those who like a sentimental and cerebral movie experience.
Reviewed by Ceri Hutton
Twitter: @Ceri_Hutton
Rating out of 10: 8
A Moonless Night will screen on 20 August 2016 only, as part of Cine Latino: Latin American Film Festival, running 11 – 24 August 2016 exclusively at the Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas.
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