EL PERRO
A film by Carlos Sorín
(Bombón el perro, Argentina/Spain, 2004, 96 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
In this warm-hearted and poignant road movie, a man and a dog embark on a delightful adventure across the stunningly beautiful landscapes of Argentine Patagonia. The fifty-two-year-old Juan is laid off when the gas station where he has worked for the last 20 years is sold. Unemployed, middle-aged, unskilled, and living in a region with high unemployment, his prospects for a new job are very slim. He temporarily moves in with his daughter, but cannot see a way out of his dire situation until his luck turns in a most unexpected way. An elderly widow with little money gives Juan her late husband’s dog, Lechien, as payment for repairing her car, but Lechien ends up being not just any dog; he is a pure breed Dogo Argentino, a potential dog show winner who may hold the key to Juan’s future in his paw. El Perro achieves a humility that avoids saccharine over-sentimentality, the result is a dramatic comedy that is absolutely enchanting in its subtlety.
Now streaming on MUBI
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