Abstract
In the midst of so much pretentious or bombastic but empty or emotionally neutral telefilm on streaming platforms, Argentine cinema, and more specifically a provincial cinema, once again gives us a sample of what it does best when it does not intend to become mainstream: tell us stories " small "that interest and move and that, from the local, challenge the world through a comedy with a subtle humor that flirts at times with the absurd about a return with more pain than glory to the hometown.
Review
Demosthenes (called Ghost by his friends), now 40 years old, returns to the town of Aristóbulo del Valle, in Misiones, ready to work whatever it takes, after trying to study and find a way "far from paying."
Fantasma returns to town is the chronicle of the reunions and encounters of the protagonist (a notable Alfonso Tort) and of his experience as a temporary employee in a parlor owned by his former best friend, Luis Miguel (Juan Román Diosque), who likes financially well.
The comedy directed by missionary Augusto Gonzalez Polo admirably combines a very measured manners -thanks to the great naturalness of the performances, highlighting that of Laura Josefina Kramer- with a subtle humor that at times flirts with the absurd and even the disturbing and a measured melancholy that never recharges the inks. A cinema that at times refers to Carlos Sorín, but devoid of sentimentality.
The episodic nature of the story does not detract from its interest, highlighting a painting of characters (starting with Ghost and his friend) achieved with great economy of resources, the accurate notes, as in passing, about certain transformations that the people are experiencing and that distant humor that almost never leaves it
In the midst of so much pretentious or bombastic but empty or emotionally neutral telefilm on streaming platforms, Argentine cinema, and more specifically a provincial cinema, once again gives us a sample of what it does best when it does not intend to become mainstream: tell us stories " small ones "that interest and move and that challenge the world from the local level.
And that offers, by the side of a route and with the remarkable soundtrack of Federico Delbon, one of the best scenes without words of the last national cinema.
