The Man Next Door

Leonardo is a well known designer living in the only house Le Corbusier built in the Americas. One morning his neighbour Victor starts knocking a hole in a wall, wanting light in his own place. That window looks straight into Leonardo's home, and a standoff begins that runs for weeks. Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat shot the whole thing inside the real Curutchet House. The subject is not architecture but class. Leonardo tries to win with the rules of politeness while Victor simply says what he means, and the comedy comes from two languages failing to meet. Who has the better case keeps changing hands. The directors served as their own cinematographers, and the film won the cinematography award in the world dramatic competition at Sundance in 2010. Its flaw is the ending, where tension built with great delicacy is resolved suddenly and far too hard. Who it is for: lovers of black comedy built on class. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a side to be on.