Los amantes astronautas (The Astronaut Lovers)

Los amantes astronautas (The Astronaut Lovers), dir. Marco Berger, 2024 Argentina/Spain, 116 min., in Spanish with English subtitles 💖

Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 8:30 PM, Vogue Theatre

not available in the Digital Screening Room streaming encore

Los amantes astronautas
(The Astronaut Lovers)

A group of friends gather in a beach house near Buenos Aires for a vacation. Most of them are from the area, but Pedro (Javier Orán, right) is returning from Spain; he lived in Buenos Aires as a teenager. His cousin has also invited Maxi (Lautaro Bettoni, left), who went to summer camp with Pedro back in the day. Pedro and Maxi begin an escalating sequence of flirtations, including Maxi’s attempt to make his ex-girlfriend jealous by pretending that Pedro is his boyfriend. The flirtation is always veiled behind a veil of jokes, but we begin to wonder how serious it is for one or the other of the players.

On the surface, Los amantes astronautas is a light comedy about a group of friends vacationing at the beach. On that level, it was a rousing success, with plenty of chuckles and quite a few laughs. The writing is sharp and witty, the performances excellent, and the editing spot-on. However, what makes this film special is the scenes that aren’t played for laughs, with characters honestly expressing real feelings, able to articulate their emotions. It’s a joy to watch — and especially a palate cleanser from the dreadful Los demonios del amanecer (Demons at Dawn), in that Astronautas has a plot and character development and, most shockingly, an ending.

I enjoyed the three Berger films I’ve seen previously: Plan B (2010, Frameline34), Ausente (Absent) (2011, Frameline35), and Mariposa (Butterfly) (2015, Frameline39), although the last one definitely suffered a bit of “lost in translation,” not least the fact that mariposa is a gentle slang term for gay men. Astronautas hits all the right notes, a feel-good comedy with some real emotions underneath, definitely a MUST SEE.

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