The_late_Buddy_Ryan Vintage coming-of-age drama from Argentina, though it's largely set in Spain. The setup is quite promising: Martin, an Argentine screenwriter who lives in Madrid and a distant, withholding dad if there ever was one, reluctantly takes charge of his 19-year-old son, Hache (pron. "Aché," the equivalent of "Junior"), after the latter unwisely mixes whiskey with a street drug called "dog" and ends up in the hospital. Martin, solitary and self-absorbed by nature, seems to be at a loss, but Martin's friend and collaborator Dante, a hedonistic gay actor, and Martin's clingy, coke-addled girlfriend Alicia (the fabulous Cecilia Roth of "All About My Mother") are delighted to have a handsome new playmate. Trouble comes (for the characters—and the viewer, IMHO) when the scene shifts to a luxurious villa in Almería, in the south (not unlike the modernist pueblo where Bardot and Michel Piccoli hole up in Godard's "Contempt"). An evening of drinking, doping and cynical philosophizing, presumably for the benefit of the directionless young Hache, has tragic consequences that seemed, to me at least, both predictable and contrived. Despite a charmingly redemptive final scene in which Hache finally comes into his own, the film never recaptured my attention after that. A couple of our Spanish Facebook friends really talked this one up; part of the problem may be that the subtitles can't keep pace with the dialogue, which, in these melodramatic final scenes, just comes off as pretentious and banal

jotix100 Watching the film after fifteen years since its commercial release can make a difference in one's perception. "Martin (Hache)" presents that kind of dilemma for a viewer that might not have followed political events in Argentina during the terrible decade of 1970/1980s. A lot of left wing intellectuals preferred to go into a voluntary exile, such as Martin, a middle age man, a film director, who was able to pick up his career, making perhaps, a better life in Spain than in his old country.Martin, who is divorced from his first wife, gets an urgent call to return home. His son, also named Martin, but called Hache by the family, took a drug overdose that nearly killed him. Now in a coma, the young man recuperates. Talking with his old wife, Martin is told to take Hache with him. The former wife has no room for him in her new life with another man. Taking that responsibility makes an impact in Martin's life. After all, he is used to being alone, so the intrusion is not exactly what he had in mind. Hache's arrival proves to be not what the father thought it would be. Martin is seeing Alicia, a much younger woman, a film editor, with whom is he is having a stormy relationship. While Alicia does everything in her power to cater to her lover, he, in turn, has a different view of domestic life. Martin explains how he cherish his new life, by himself. He is a man that loves his solitude above all. Part of Martin's attitude toward Alicia is due to her dependency on drugs. Hache, on the other hand, does not find his place within his father's world. Dante, a gay actor, who is close to the father, takes the young man under his wing, but the boy's mind is still in Buenos Aires, his friends, his band, the girl he loves. Father and son clash about the way they feel about their native country. According to Martin, it is an illusion where everything is fake. The older man's life back there holds no happy memories, whereas Hache pines to go back.As Martin agrees to direct a new project, he asks Alicia to come with him to Almeria in Southern Spain to edit the screenplay. Alicia, who is dependent on drugs, has a confrontation with Martin because she finds herself at the end of her rope in their relationship. Dante and Hache, who come for a visit, are appalled by the state of things between the lovers. Tragedy hits unexpectedly, leaving Hache shaken. It does not come as a complete surprise when he decides what his next move will be.Adolfo Aristarain, the director of this film, wrote the screenplay with Katy Saavedra. The director created a well felt drama about a man who is unable to accept love from anyone. Martin has been by himself for such a long period of time that he mishandles the possibility of happiness with Alicia because he cannot commit too her. The arrival of Hache in his life is too late. He is a loner who will not change. He is incapable of showing love to anyone. He shuns companionship, preferring staying home listening to music, rather than socializing with people he likes. Alicia however much she tries, does not put a dent in Martin to change his ways.Federico Luppi does one of his most brilliant interpretations in front of the camera as this sad man in the middle of the story. By contrast, Eusebio Poncela, playing Dante seems to be overacting in his approach to his gay actor. Cecilia Roth makes an impeccable Alicia, one of the best roles she has made in front of the cameras. Young Juan Diego Botto appears as Hache. Ana Maria Piccio plays Martin's former wife.

Anxa PV This is one of my favorite films. Terribly sincere, talks about relationships and silence, about how doubts and questions not answered can turn love in death or slow suicide and about how everything comes to pain. But is not a sad story at the end. The role of young Martín (Hache), perfect and tender Juan Diego Botto, as the real survivor of the script, turning sour into sweetness, and insecurity into strenght, even though he's lost in hesitations, is a message of faith in life.The dialogs are intelligent and sharp, the actors, gorgeous. And I fell in love with Martín (Hache) for the rest of my life.Thank you, Adolfo Aristarain for such a great, sensitive, risky and intelligent movie and thank you, Federico Lupi, Cecilia Roth, Eusebio Poncela and, specially, Juan Diego Botto for your incredible work.

Juan I love this movie, what more can i say?!.Some people say that this is a theatrical film because of its dialogues and locations, and i think it´s true, but what´s the matter?. In fact i think it´s like a Greek tragedy with all the kind of characters you can imagine: Dante (good chosen name) is the pleasure, Martín is the fear , Alicia is the emotion, and Hache is the doubt. And here they are mixed in Spain at the end of twentieth century.The performance is simply wonderful. Cecilia Roth (All about my mother) is splendid and what can i say about Federico Luppi who is one of the best actors in Spanish language that exists. I can imagine nobody except Eusebio Poncela as Dante. Juan Diego Botto is quite good.But the best thing in this movie are dialogues. They are really deep and make you think about many things in your life, especially when you are in the age of Hache, and you don´t find ways to mature. And film helps you to take account that many people is not as mature as they are supposed to be - for example Martin father -, and other many people is not as crazy as they are supposed to be - for example Dante-. There are phrases in this film that i know by memory and i use with my friends when we are joking. There are many interesting thoughts about love, loneliness, family, money, sex, drugs, and, of course, life.See it when you are sad.