Una Estrella Ydos Cafes(One Star and two cafes)
Director: Alberto Lecchi
Cast: Gaston Pauls, Marina Vilte,Ariadna Gil
Running Time: 85mins
Carlos, a city architect who has arrived to look into the sale deed matters, of a piece of land that his employer has bought in the village, gets stranded in the salt marshes and had to spend almost a night there with Estela a local girl in her early teens who is never treated like an adult by anyone and everyone she knows. He is her first crush. Carlos has an interest in astronomy and he begins to talk of stars with her. And she makes an interesting observation.
Carlos: "Some stars have died long ago, but we can still see them"
Estela : "like memories?
Carlos: "yes, like memories"
He is affected by the girl's intelligence, forthrightness and the lack of pretense 'are you sad?', she asks him on the very first day that they met. No is his reply but he later admits that he is sad when their relationship grows, albeit platonically from his side.
Carlos is going through hardtimes in his personal life and was considering a break-up with his wife. "why are you separating from her?", Estela asks. "many times, couples do", he replies. "then why are you still wearing the ring?", she questions him. He doesn't have an answer. With her curiosity and earnest questions, Estela makes him rethink of his equation with his wife.
His wife Ana makes a surprise visit and when Estela bumps into them willingly, Ana observes that Estela is in love with Carlos. Later she tells Carlos the same. Carlos laughs away saying, 'she is a girl' Ana replies, "no, she is a girl who is in love with you" When Carlos casually mentions that they spoke of stars, Ana asks, "did you talk to her of stars?", implying that he was trying to seduce her. When he doesn't agree, Ana reminds him that in the first few days that they went out, he always spoke of stars whenever he wanted to seduce her. He remembers. Did he really try to seduce her?
Carlos entry into Estela's life changes her own perceptions of life, her own idea of what she wants to be, how she wants to be treated. Its a sweet Film.
Carlos Pauls, the lead has a strong resemblance to Russel Crowe in his looks as well as in mannerisms. Marina Vilte is the real attraction of the Film in how simply she played Estela. For the first few minutes of the Film I wasn't sure of her gender though!
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