“Family Law,” from Argentina, is a very articulate comedy about fatherhood and marriage. Writer-director Daniel Burman–who also directed the similarly well-made Berlin festival prize winner “Lost Embrace” (2004) with the same lead actor, Daniel Hendler–has lots of wry observations to make about that way parents, children and spouses relate and the way the torch is passed.
He gives us the story here of a father and son called Perelman Sr. (Arturo Goetz) and Perelman Jr. (Hendler). The Perelmans are a couple of Buenos Aires attorneys who inhabit different worlds. Perelman Sr. is a fast-moving, charismatic expert who juggles several suits or defenses at once and a widower who may be having an affair with his long-time, whip-smart secretary Norita (Adriana Aizenberg). Perelman Jr. practices law, but is more comfortable outside the courtroom, at the university, where he teaches law classes to a student body that includes his eventual wife, Sandra (Julieta Diaz).
During the course of the film, with its near-constant narration by Perelman Jr., we see several years in their lives. The film follows the family through landmarks that include the marriage of Perelman Jr., the birth and growth of his son (played by Eloy Burman, the director’s little boy) and others just as crucial.
Burman, an ex-law student himself, knows the milieu and knows people. His film has a priceless feeling of truth. Burman’s major influences seem to include the French ’60s new wave directors, including Francois Truffaut. Over and over again, like them, he breathes life into his frames, in scenes that show daily work routines, marital scenes (Perelman Jr. has an annoying habit of plopping into bed in his shirt and tie) and other everyday, but fascinating, moments.
The style is casual, the dialogue and narration sharp. There’s an excellent Cesar Lerner score that sounds a bit like Dave Brubeck on the beach. The actors, to a man and woman, nail their parts. The film is often stolen by the child Burman, of course. But particularly good among the adults are Hendler and Goetz as the two older Perelmans. Hendler has the nervous, contained look of a young man who hasn’t found his way and may never. Goetz is totally convincing as a supremely confident lawyer who knows all the tricks and who treats his clientele like family–and his family, a bit, like clientele.
Perhaps partly because the Perelmans are Jewish, “Family Law” has been compared to Woody Allen’s films. Allen is at critical low ebb here right now, but it’s an apt comparison. This is a comedy made for people who think, who like smart talk and who, like the Perelmans, know the score.
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`Family Law’
(star)(star)(star)
Directed and written by Daniel Burman; photographed by Ramiro Civita; edited by Alejandro Parysow; art direction by Maria Eugenia Sueiro; music by Cesar Lerner; produced by Diego Dubcovsky, Jose Maria Morales, Burman. In Spanish, with English subtitles. An IFC First Take release; opens Friday at the Music Box Theatre. Running time: 1:42.
Perelman Jr. ……………. Daniel Hendler
Sandra …………………. Julieta Diaz
Perelman Sr. ……………. Arturo Goetz
Darmidjian ……………… Damian Dreizik
Norita …………………. Adriana Aizenberg
Tio Eduardo …………….. Jean Pierre Reguerraz
No MPAA rating (adult themes, language and sensuality).
(star)(star)(star)(star) EXCELLENT
(star)(star)(star) GOOD
(star)(star) FAIR
(star) POOR
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mwilmington@tribune.com
