NYFF19 REVIEW: Así habló el cambista [The Moneychanger] [2019]

Enjoy every penny earned and spent. Mr. Schweinsteiger (Luis Machín) ran a good game in Uruguay by helping unsavory folks launder money through him for a percentage. He was smart too, refusing to work with politicians knowing they’d eventually screw something up and drag his name down with them. Unfortunately, however, the man he willingly took under his wing as a logical successor and future son-in-law proved greedier than he was intelligent. Humberto Brause (Daniel Hendler) did what Schweinsteiger wouldn’t because the dollar signs were too attractive to be ignored…

Read More

REVIEW: El Aura [2005]

“Fantasies becoming reality” Argentinean director Fabián Bielinsky tragically passed away last June. Upon his death, he had completed only two films, 2000’s Nueve Reinas and this year’s El Aura. I have not yet seen his first film, however, everything I have heard has been rave reviews—it even got the American remake treatment in 2004’s Criminal. It is a horrible shame that he was not given the chance to evolve as a filmmaker because his second and final film is fantastic. El Aura is an expertly written crime thriller, well acted…

Read More