Family Law: The capper to a splendid little trilogy

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

With Family Law, the fourth and finest film I've seen from Argentine writer/director Daniel Burman, this increasingly graceful and family-oriented filmmaker completes his trilogy about coming of age and finding one's place in relation to kin and community. It's a warm film, full of wonderful specifics--funny and real--about the life of 30-something, haute-bourgeois Argentines that should easily translate to a U.S. audience who either understands Spanish or is willing to read subtitles. And, although this film is the last in a kind of trilogy connected by theme and lead actor, it can be viewed separately with no loss of enjoyment or understanding.

Burman hit the international film festival circuit and limited U.S. exposure with his 2000 film Waiting for the Messiah, which garnered some nice reviews but was little seen. In it, lead characters Ariel (played by Daniel Hendler) and Santamaria bounce around frenetically (as does the movie), dealing with love, sex, family, work and religion. Buenos Aires' Jewish community plays a large part here, as do the effects of globalization on an increasingly broken economy. As bad as things seem, however, hope--the unspoken staple of Burman's work to date--never entirely disappears.

In 2002 the filmmaker took what now can be seen as a detour with Todas las Azafatas van al Cielo (All Flight Attendants Go to Heaven), though the writer/director may not have imagined this at the time. (I doubt he had a trilogy in mind initially.) Azafatas continues Burman's unique mix of charm and whimsy in dealing with serious topics (this time, the possibilities of suicide and terrorism!) and even uses Mr. Hendler in a bit role that appears to be a continuation of his Messiah duties. The film is sweet and inventive, offering numerous visual delights, philosophy and questing, and its cast includes two fine leads (Alfredo Casero and Ingrid Rubio) and Argentina's great Norma Aleandro in the "mom" role.

Skip to 2004 (Burman seems to work on a two-year schedule) and Lost Embrace, which picks up Ariel, who, though he sports a different last name, seems remarkably like the same young man we already know but is now a bit older and straining for some maturity and a career. Concurrently, his family, friends and community (not to mention the Argentine economy) are also trying to right themselves. True to Burman's quirky sense of humor, lingerie plays an important role here, as do the denizens of the low-end mini-mall in which the lingerie shop is located. And--oh, yes--there's an absent father who does not, thank goodness, come saddled with the usual sentimentality attached to missing parents. The wonderful Adriana Aizemberg plays Ariel's mom.

Family Law, the culmination of the Ariel story (with yet another new last name), surfaced in 2006 and became (as did Lost Embrace) Argentina's submission for Best Foreign Film. Here, writer/director, actor, character and Argentina itself all seemed to have calmed down considerably. Though the third (and, says Burman, perhaps the last) Ariel movie still zips along speedily, the camera seems more stable and the budget much higher, which nicely reflects the character's new standing--he's a lawyer who also teaches at university--as part of the country's upper middle class. Life now is altogether pleasant, particularly when the lawyer/teacher sets his romantic sites on a very lovely student.

Ariel's father, also a lawyer, figures prominently here, as does the next generation, portrayed delightfully by the director's son Eloy. Law--that of the land and of the family--is held up for observation, understanding and a little gentle ridicule. While the scenes in the classroom could easily take place in the U.S, the "accident witness" whom the father consistently uses may be a bit too obvious even for our low court standards. Still, one does get the sense that justice is somehow being served.

So, why is Mr. Burman an important filmmaker? Because he is able to entertain us and stimulate us by sharing his love of family and his understanding of how boys become men and sons fathers without slighting in the least his women characters. He is not judgmental but he certainly recognizes human frailty. He possesses a wicked sense of humor--visual, verbal, philosophical--and his films are never bloated (this latest, his longest, runs just 102 minutes). He has a splendid feel for visuals (often connected to that sense of humor), but subtle. I would call him an active-positive filmmaker, something increasingly rare.

After watching a movie on DVD, I seldom bother with "The Making of..." featurette, but I so enjoyed Family Law that I went ahead and clicked on this extra. Instead of the usual self-congratulatory blather, here was a raft of fascinating additional information that left me so satisfied and happy that I wanted nothing more than to watch the film all over again.