Ìý People do a lot of thinking in Extraño, a dawdling existential drama from Argentina. You can tell they're thinking because they stare at things. Enigmatic hero Axel (Julio Chávez) thinks a lot. He stares at a cup of coffee, stares at a tablecloth, stares at the wall - it's riveting stuff. There's the germ of a good movie here - think the unlikely relationships of The Station Agent except with a Latin twist - but fundamentally it's just very, very boring.
Extraño follows the taciturn Axel's path across a number of sofas and spare rooms, as friends and family put him up. While staying with his sister and nephew he meets a pregnant woman, Erika (Valeria Bertuccelli). Similarly depressed and derailed, she seems to be a kindred spirit. Axel and Erika move in together, but what modest companionship they offer each other does little to alleviate the obvious psychological burdens they carry. We find out that Axel used to be a surgeon, but now he just drifts, apparently unemployed.
"NEARLY AS INTRIGUING AS DEPRESSING"
Thanks to Chávez's natural, believable performance, Axel is nearly as intriguing as he is depressing. But come the end of the film, he remains a total mystery. Arguably this is director Santiago Loza's bravest move, but it frustrates, especially when every other of Extraño's characters pours their life story out in an effective and enlightening shorthand dialogue. In the story of a man who has become a phantom, there is little for audiences to hold on to here.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
