Palermo Hollywood (World Dramatic Competition) Directed by: Eduardo Pinto

Yet another Argentinian film in the “World Dramatic” competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, “Palmero Hollywood,” directed by Eduardo Pinto, carries with it some of the same social issues addressed in fellow competitor, “Live-In Maid,” while at the same time, communicating its message and a sense of everlasting circular destruction and hopelessness for the future than its other Argentinian “cinematic colleague.” Set against the backdrop of the Old Palmero neighborhood of Buenos Aires, complete with exuberant youth and excitement, “Palmero Hollywood” explores the same sorts of social class issues between its two main characters, and also is framed by wonderful lighting to complement the darkness and grittiness of the story. No matter how much the characters try to escape their desperate situation, however, the structure of the screenplay itself, designed with circular storytelling, prevents its characters from escaping the vicious world in which they live.

Mario and Pablo both coexist within the same world of the underbelly of Buenos Aires, members of their own gang that makes its living off of drug deals and thievery for their boss, “the Fag”--but they both don’t live there. Their peculiar friendship is an odd one, considering Mario’s is one of having grown up in the slums with his younger sister, Julieta (off-limits romantically to the rest of the gang), all of his life, and Pablo is the son of a rich and affluent senator. Their friendship is more akin to a brotherhood, and it seems nothing will come between them. They both have very different problems in their lives, however. While Pablo thrives on the idea that he can go steal and get high, getting off on the fact that he is rebelling against authority and his father, he has the luxury of returning to a comfortable home within a high-profile family. Pablo loves his life because of that duality, and is contrasted with Mario, who supporting his long-time girlfriend, Jimena, and his daughter, desires to straighten out his life and move to Spain to pursue a more honest lifestyle.

The glass ceiling of Buenos Aires, however, prevents Mario from escaping his life, and keeps Pablo from realizing how truly lucky he is. Things take a turn for the friendship, however, when Pablo falls for Julieta and pursues her behind his friend’s back. In the meantime, also secretively, Mario makes preparations to leave his life in Argentina and move to Spain with his girlfriend and daughter. Just when it seems as if both will remain undiscovered and both are about to straighten out their lives, Pablo pulls Mario into one last job, an “express kidnapping,” for their crime boss. When the kidapping goes awry, however, and the victim is killed in the process, Mario finds himself on the run from the law for the murder, and the incident places both Mario and Pablo into a situation which tests their friendship to its limits.

To compare a fellow “World Dramatic” competitor, the film “Live-In Maid” explored the social separation between an employer and employee from two different rungs in the social ladder, and how their friendship endured despite their differences. The same is partially true for “Palmero Hollywood,” except that while both of the main characters live a poor lifestyle of stealing and drinking for survival in the decaying economy of Buenos Aires, Pablo is actually the rich son of a senator who delves into the dark world of his home as a way of rebellion against the establishment and his stiff-collared father. He chooses to live a life of crime with Mario, rather than having no other option like his friend. Having the convenient option of returning to the comforts of wealth at any time he wishes is also another strain on the idea of Pablo voluntarily delving into Argentina’s dark side, as he may withdraw whenever he wishes.

“Live-in Maid” also views the social separation a bit more optimistically, showing hope at the end of the film when the rich employer is forced to move in with her maid when all of her money disappears. “Palmero Hollywood,” on the other hand, takes a much more pessimistic approach. It shows a clear separation between the classes that allows a rich boy like Pablo to descend down a rung and go back to high society with ease, while Mario and his family can only spiral downward (if that would be possible), and no matter how he continues to try, can never ascend to the levels of Pablo. The commentary in this film in regards to the social hierarchy frozen into Argentina’s society with little hope of becoming better showcases film’s powerful ability to really say something about the unfair conditions of the world, whether in actuality or only in the opinion of the filmmaker.

The despondency of this world is also communicated by the brilliant use of lighting, or rather, lack thereof. Very few scenes of the film actually take place in daylight, and when they do, the scenes usually serve as transitional ones such as driving in the car from a house, and then the camera submerges itself again into the dimly lit lair of “the Fag,” or the pulsating darkness of a nightclub where Pablo and Julieta fall in love, the blackness punctuated sparingly by a strobe light. Also, in the few flashbacks that exist within the films of “happier times” shared between Mario and Pablo, not only are these shots poorly lit, but they are also diluted, and the circles of confusion that make up the picture can be easily seen, almost like a Seraut painting. The dilutement of the picture only suggests more fragmentation, and the dark lighting makes it difficult to see the picture clearly, punctuating the point of mere memory. In this world, there is no hope or light–only darkness, confusion, and nightmares.

The hopelessness of this world is also communicated in the structure of the screenplay. “Palmero Hollywood,” in typical circular storytelling style, begins and ends in the same place, with Mario on the run from the law and being confronted by Pablo, bringing the two into a confrontation that could possibly result in the death of either due to their angers and frustrations with each other and the mess they’ve gotten themselves into. The main plot of the film is sandwiched as a flashback middle to this beginning and/or end, and only re-enforces the idea within the script of a social situation that neither main character can escape. They live within a vicious cycle that begins in despair, and for all their attempts to escape it during the middle of the story, ends in the same depression and desperation in which it began.

“Palmero Hollywood” is a gritty social commentary on the decaying world of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the struggles for survival and friendship between its two main characters, Pablo and Mario. While the story is externally about their friendships and the strains placed on it through a series of distressing situations, the real concern, of course, is that the government of Argentina, and the world at large, could put the two protagonists into such a desperate situation to begin with. Commenting on the frozen social hierarchy that exists in Argentina and both unites and separates Pablo and Mario, and furthered by both the dark lighting of the film and the structure of the screenplay, goes on to re-enforce the idea of desperation and eternal destruction within an unfair society, and, at most, clearly communicates the ideas and opinions of the filmmaker, Eduardo Pinto, on the dark and desperate condition of the world.