Puan

Marcelo teaches political philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires. He has been in the same place for years; his salary is not enough, he gives private lessons, and he does every job in the department. His professor dies and the chair falls vacant. Marcelo thinks his turn has come. Then Rafael returns. He worked for years in Germany, his books are published, he appears on television and he speaks impressively. The two will compete for the same post. Meanwhile the economy is worsening, the university's budget is cut and the students are protesting. María Alché directs with Benjamín Naishtat. Marcelo Subiotto plays Marcelo and Leonardo Sbaraglia plays Rafael; Julieta Zylberberg and Alejandra Flechner are in the cast. It is an Argentine production. The film won the award for best screenplay at the 2023 San Sebastián Film Festival, and Marcelo Subiotto took the award for best leading performance. Its title comes from the street where the university's faculty of philosophy stands, which is what the place is called in Buenos Aires. The matter it treats is the collapse of the academy; the fight over a post looks like a matter of character but its ground is economic. The narrative puts neither man in the right; Marcelo is passive and Rafael a showman. The film holds comedy and sadness together and the register changes often. The philosophy lessons really are inside it; texts are argued over and their content ties into the narrative. The narrative takes the argument about public universities in Argentina as a direct subject. Its limit is pace; the narrative is loose, the side lines scattered, and the ending unresolved. Who it is for: viewers who like Argentine cinema and narratives set in the academy. Who it is not for: it is loose, local, and the ending open.