Nico is trying to escape an annoying career as a soap opera actor and a submissive passion for Martín, the producer of the show. Being a celebrity all over Argentina, he decides to leave all the comfort of his homeland and try his chance in New York. But things aren't as easy as they appear at first glance. All the achievements in Nico's career and all his talents as an actor, are now reduced to nothing, due to social and cultural contingencies. Nobody cares for his past fame: in the US he is as unknown as any young and inexperienced actor. Moreover, his acting skills are nothing now, for his strong accent makes him unfit to play any American character and his blond hair rules out any chance of getting a Latino role.
That is the process every immigrant must go through. As he arrives in the new country, he has to empty himself and build a new personality again. Like a child, he is not able to talk like the others. All the talents he thought he had are now relativized according to the new social and cultural conditions. All his former achievements and glories are nothing to the locals. He may most probably even be mistreated or disrespected by some, just because of his appearance, custom or way of speaking. Yes, immigrating is a kenotic process. Like Odysseus, Christ or any heroic figure, the immigrant must at first reduce himself to nothing, in order to become what he really is. You may be the great Odysseus in Ithaca, but in the land of the cyclopes your name is Nobody. You may be the king of another world, but for all purposes now you are the least of the humans. When Nico, after many tries, finally manages to get an interview with Kara Reynolds, an important American film producer, he is very proud to tell her about his past fame and awards in Argentina. But who cares about that now? "My kingdom is not of this world", says Jesus to Pilatus, during his final interrogation. "So you are king?", replies Pilatus ironically. Of course, who would believe or care about that then? Kara Reynolds' dialogue with Nico is not much different. It simply doesn't matter who Nico was in Argentina, for he can't be the same in the US. If he wants to go on living there, he must play a new role now. He must try to lose his accent and talk differently. He must paint his hair and fake his appearance. He must change his profession for a while and work as a baby sitter or a craftsman. And he may have to go even further than this and abandon his moral values by becoming a thief.
The movie deals with many themes besides immigration and may be interpreted in many different levels. In a certain way, Nico is not alienated of his identity just because he went to a foreign country. Actually, he would have no motivation at all to go to the US, were he not already alienated at home. Now, the whole point of acting is certainly to alienate oneself in another person. So do all actors may have to change their hair, fake their voice, change their profession and personality, when they are on set. But what if an actor is a slave of a profit-oriented film or television industry? What if he is abused everyday by a selfish producer, who wants to confine his art and talent for his own sake? As any tragic hero, Nico must go away to understand himself and find freedom. Only at the end of this dialectical kenosis-process, he will finally be able to decide what his home or - what goes about the same - his identity really is.
In order to find his way home, it was necessary for Odysseus to go to Hades and meet Tiresias. So were the crown of thorns, torture and cross, not enough for Jesus. Every hero must die. Hence was the violence of exile not yet the bottom of Nico's fall. As Martín, returning to Buenos Aires from a business travel, stays for one night in New York, Nico go as low as allowing him to use him sexually. This is certainly the strongest scene of the movie. Martín seduces Nico and puts him against a wall. "It hurts", Nico repeatedly says, "go slowly". Although he is not actually being raped and even enjoys sexual pleasure, the scene is more violent for the audience than any realistic rape scene of a horror movie.
To meet Martín, Nico canceled an audition with Kara Reynolds, irritating her and ruling out his last chance of succeeding as an actor in the US. After being dismissed from his job as a baby sitter, Nico starts working as a craftsman. Eventually, he even gathers broken umbrellas at the street for some change and, in an epiphanic moment, sees himself through a mirror, dressing and behaving exactly like a beggar, - a scene that once again evokes Odysseus, at the last point of his journey home.
The mirror scene is followed by an ellipse and we now see Nico arriving in Argentina. Here we finally meet the conclusion of the story. Nico goes to a lunch with the soap opera's crew and stuff, including Martín. We learn that Nico has quit the soap opera and he is glad about that. During the afternoon, Martín tries to seduce him once more. "Nobody is watching", he says. But Nico doesn't care anymore about that. He is free from both submissions: the one of his passion for the producer and the one of the profit-oriented, alienating audiovisual production. "Are you going to stay in Argentina or return to the US?", someone asks. Nico isn't sure. But that doesn't matter now. The journey is over anyway.
That is the process every immigrant must go through. As he arrives in the new country, he has to empty himself and build a new personality again. Like a child, he is not able to talk like the others. All the talents he thought he had are now relativized according to the new social and cultural conditions. All his former achievements and glories are nothing to the locals. He may most probably even be mistreated or disrespected by some, just because of his appearance, custom or way of speaking. Yes, immigrating is a kenotic process. Like Odysseus, Christ or any heroic figure, the immigrant must at first reduce himself to nothing, in order to become what he really is. You may be the great Odysseus in Ithaca, but in the land of the cyclopes your name is Nobody. You may be the king of another world, but for all purposes now you are the least of the humans. When Nico, after many tries, finally manages to get an interview with Kara Reynolds, an important American film producer, he is very proud to tell her about his past fame and awards in Argentina. But who cares about that now? "My kingdom is not of this world", says Jesus to Pilatus, during his final interrogation. "So you are king?", replies Pilatus ironically. Of course, who would believe or care about that then? Kara Reynolds' dialogue with Nico is not much different. It simply doesn't matter who Nico was in Argentina, for he can't be the same in the US. If he wants to go on living there, he must play a new role now. He must try to lose his accent and talk differently. He must paint his hair and fake his appearance. He must change his profession for a while and work as a baby sitter or a craftsman. And he may have to go even further than this and abandon his moral values by becoming a thief.
The movie deals with many themes besides immigration and may be interpreted in many different levels. In a certain way, Nico is not alienated of his identity just because he went to a foreign country. Actually, he would have no motivation at all to go to the US, were he not already alienated at home. Now, the whole point of acting is certainly to alienate oneself in another person. So do all actors may have to change their hair, fake their voice, change their profession and personality, when they are on set. But what if an actor is a slave of a profit-oriented film or television industry? What if he is abused everyday by a selfish producer, who wants to confine his art and talent for his own sake? As any tragic hero, Nico must go away to understand himself and find freedom. Only at the end of this dialectical kenosis-process, he will finally be able to decide what his home or - what goes about the same - his identity really is.
In order to find his way home, it was necessary for Odysseus to go to Hades and meet Tiresias. So were the crown of thorns, torture and cross, not enough for Jesus. Every hero must die. Hence was the violence of exile not yet the bottom of Nico's fall. As Martín, returning to Buenos Aires from a business travel, stays for one night in New York, Nico go as low as allowing him to use him sexually. This is certainly the strongest scene of the movie. Martín seduces Nico and puts him against a wall. "It hurts", Nico repeatedly says, "go slowly". Although he is not actually being raped and even enjoys sexual pleasure, the scene is more violent for the audience than any realistic rape scene of a horror movie.
To meet Martín, Nico canceled an audition with Kara Reynolds, irritating her and ruling out his last chance of succeeding as an actor in the US. After being dismissed from his job as a baby sitter, Nico starts working as a craftsman. Eventually, he even gathers broken umbrellas at the street for some change and, in an epiphanic moment, sees himself through a mirror, dressing and behaving exactly like a beggar, - a scene that once again evokes Odysseus, at the last point of his journey home.
The mirror scene is followed by an ellipse and we now see Nico arriving in Argentina. Here we finally meet the conclusion of the story. Nico goes to a lunch with the soap opera's crew and stuff, including Martín. We learn that Nico has quit the soap opera and he is glad about that. During the afternoon, Martín tries to seduce him once more. "Nobody is watching", he says. But Nico doesn't care anymore about that. He is free from both submissions: the one of his passion for the producer and the one of the profit-oriented, alienating audiovisual production. "Are you going to stay in Argentina or return to the US?", someone asks. Nico isn't sure. But that doesn't matter now. The journey is over anyway.
