‘The Weasels’ Tale’ Delivers Great Characters and Unexpected Twists and Turns

Ulises Duenas

 

The Weasels’ Tale (Outsider Pictures), directed by Juan Jose Campanella, starts off slow, but has the sharp dialogue and wit to carry it through to its highest points. With great acting and riveting writing, this film is one that will likely be lost in the shuffle, but it deserves full recognition. It’s not often that I see a movie this good from Argentina, but it’s a nice surprise.

 

The premise of the movie is that four friends from the old age of showbusiness are living out their twilight years in a mansion. There’s the director, Norberto; the writer, Martin; the leading actress, Mara; and the supporting actor, Pedro. Their relationship is full of conflict and bickering, but it’s presented in a charming way and delivered with witty, dry humor. The main conflict comes from two young realtors who try to grift Mara into selling her home.

 

 

The chemistry among these four characters is great. Mara is stuck living in the past and sees her jaded friends Norberto and Martin as tormentors for wanting her to confront the reality that the good days are long gone. They constantly take small jabs at each other but are much more overtly hostile towards the realtors trying to manipulate Mara. While Mara is clearly delusional and self-centered, you do feel sympathy for her to some degree. Showbusiness has forgotten about her, and now she’s being targeted like so many seniors today. I was surprised at the number of times I genuinely laughed during this movie. There are moments where one character takes a subtle shot at another verbally, and the acting really drives those moments home.

 

Even though the realtors Francisco and Barbara are presented to be devious, the movie drops hints that the four friends are also hiding some secrets. There are some twists and turns leading to the climax and it makes for some tense scenes where it's hard to tell who the real villains are or if the movie has any real protagonists at all. It has some vibes similar to a murder mystery, and the intrigue makes the viewer keep some questions in their head as they watch. It’s clear the friends in the mansion aren’t as innocent and helpless as most young people would think – which seems to be one of the morals of the movie.

 

 

Without saying too much, I’ll say the final act of the movie has some great payoffs and unexpected turns. This stands out from a lot of films because of how character-driven it is, and the film doesn’t rely on violence or visual effects. I highly recommend that you watch The Weasels’ Tale.

 

Author Bio:

Ulises Duenas is a contributing writer at Highbrow Magazine.

 

For Highbrow Magazine

 

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