Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today’s feature is Whisky, a dour Uruguayan comedy about love, sibling rivalry, and socks.
Whisky (2004)
And next week’s feature:
Reviews of Whisky:
Reeling Reviews says:
A year after his mother’s death Jacobo Koller (Andrés Pazos) must face his long ignored and more successful brother, Herman (Jorge Bolani), when her tombstone arrives and a dedication ceremony is planned. The lonely sock factory owner wants to impress his brother with a normal family life and so he asks Marta (Mirella Pascual), his most faithful employee, to move in for a few days. She agrees and gives his gloomy apartment a woman’s touch in “Whisky.” And that title comes from a professional photographer’s entreaty to “say whisky!” for the mock marriage portrait Marta believes will complete Jacobo’s deception. Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll’s droll yet bittersweet film was Uruguay’s submission for 2004’s foreign language film but barely got a release in the United States. This wonderful little film is now available to all with First Run Feature’s welcome new DVD release. The directors, who cowrote “Whisky” with Gonzalo Delgado, give us a view of Montevideo telescoped through the eyes of Jacobo. We see its streets from the back seat of his car, which he uses to deliver bales of socks to shabby distributors. We see outside the gate which he opens early every morning to let himself and Marta in to begin the day. Even the blinds in his office are broken. When Marta is admitted into his apartment, it is stuffed with the gloom and refuse of an invalid, a place not to live but to die in. Marta brightens perceptibly with her new role, shedding her washerwoman look with newly styled hair and even a touch of makeup, but it is not until Herman’s arrival that the dynamics really begin to shift. While the actors who play them look remarkably like brothers, the characters are a study in opposites. Jacobo is a creature of stagnant routine, taciturn and low tech. Herman, also a sock manufacturer but in flashier Brazil, is a social creature, gregarious and impulsive. Herman, in fact, insists that the trio take a mini-vacation of sorts, and so they travel to the resort town frequented in their youth – Piriapolis. Marta responds to Herman’s open nature and although it is unsaid, we can deduce her agenda in agreeing to play Jacobo’s wife. When these older folks run into a newlywed couple at the hotel little signs and symbols begin to play out, like Marta’s loss of her ‘wedding ring’ in the hotel swimming pool. Jacobo’s use of their advice in order to maintain the status quo goes outrageously awry. The filmmakers are incredibly adept at relaying so very much almost imperceptibly. Jacobo’s gaze into a shop window, where he spies an overtly cheerful couple’s photo framed in gaudy pink, is a laugh out loud moment. Marta’s unveiling of her ability to repeat back anything backwards instantaneously is a delightful surprise and the tip of the iceberg in what the man who has known her for years has neglected to discover. A general outlook on life is reflected in the placement of a refrigerator magnet. “Whisky” affirms a love of life, even if it is at the expense of one who fails to see it. It’s a wise and perceptive little comedy which trails whiffs of melancholia in its wake.
Letterboxd says:
It is never too late to embrace life, to escape from the silence and monotony of a suffocating everyday life that seems to repeat itself to the point of boredom. Whiskey is a story about loneliness and the frustrations, resentments and disappointments of life that lie hidden behind it. At the same time, it shows how human beings cope with this loneliness; there are those who accept it and are unable to overcome the coldness and hermetism that keeps them entrapped, there are those who on the outside pretend that everything is fine, and there are those who have the courage to awaken from their lethargy. Filmmakers Rebella and Stoll have created a melancholic work that reflects with great authenticity the simplicity and pathos of life.
My take: A dry little comedy with a deep tinge of sadness running through it. The directors make wonderful use of scene construction and clever little details that tell the story without relying on dialogue. The ending came as a surprise but upon reflection it was bound to happen the way it did.
Directors: Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll
Writers: Gonzalo Delgado, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll
Notable Actors: Andrés Pazos, Mirella Pascual, Jorge Bolani
Plot (Spoilers!)
Jacobo (Pazos) is a small time business owner whose life is like a record set on repeat. Everyday he goes through the same routine, accompanied by his shop manager Marta (Pascual). Together they run a small, shabby sock manufacturing concern.
Jacobo’s estranged brother Herman (Bolani) is coming into town for their mother’s funeral. Jacobo realizes his life is hollow and wants to present a prettier picture to Herman. So he enlists Marta to act as his wife for the duration of Herman’s visit.
After the funeral, Herman invites the ersatz couple to a vacation at a resort the brothers frequented as children. As the trio spend time together, it becomes apparent that Herman is a far more charming and lively person than his grim-faced brother. Marta begins to develop feelings for Herman and at the conclusion of the film we find Jacobo back where he started in his factory….minus Marta.
