HISTORIAS MINIMAS (INTIMATE STORIES)

Originally more accurately titled MINIMAL STORIES, Sorin’s earlier film also explores the wasteland of Patagonia, this time through the lives of three different people, all individually making a journey down the same road toward the provincial capital of San Julián. Don Justo, a nearly blind, senile, guilt-ridden old man, is searching for his beloved dog, Badface, who had mysteriously run away three years earlier. María, a young mother, sets off for San Julián to participate in a game show, “Multicolored Casino,” in hopes of winning a prize, any prize, even a useless one. Traveling salesman Roberto – peddling Swedish “slimming plasters” – takes a “soccer-ball cake” to give to the child of a client he is hoping to court. These “little” stories, flirting with redemption, material gain, and love, succeed in telling us much about the human spirit in materially reduced situations.  -- Chale Nafus