Chaco La Tigra Federico Godfried and Juan Sasiaín

Esteban, a student from Buenos Aires returns to La Tigra, his hometown in the province of Chaco. There he meets Vero, an old friend. Or maybe she is an ex-girlfriend; the directors intentionally leave that open. This choice is representative for the film’s concept. The directors chose to let the story flow in a delicate way and avoided any exaggeration.

Esteban’s romantic rival, Roger, is also a very nice guy. That is an original choice. Usually in films the ex-boyfriend is something of a nuisance, but directors Godfried and Sasiaín spared us the cliché. For Vero, that makes it harder to make up her mind and abandon a long-time relationship in favour of a new one. These sorts of feelings are part of everyone’s lives, and cinema should show them too, even if these emotions may not be as spectacular as the over-exploited extreme ones we usually get to see in Hollywood cinema.

It is exactly for this fresh look that La Tigra, Chaco is a touching movie. The scenes between Vero and Esteban are very sensual as they do not follow a rigid ritual of gestures, but remain nicely clumsy and simple.

Gabriela Filippi