Movie
A Useful Life
Synopsis
Uruguayan director Federico Veiroj's lovingly droll tribute to cinema. Employing a variety of generic styles, from neorealism to slapstick, it tells the tale of Jorge, the middle-aged projectionist and factotum of an art house cinema in Montevideo. But the kind of movies he loves have fallen out of fashion and - through dwindling audiences, mechanical breakdowns, funding withdrawal and other problems - his beloved picture house is suffering death by a thousand cuts. When the inevitable happens and the doors close for good, Jorge finds himself thrust out into the real world. Thus the bachelor gently begins his re-integration into real life by tentatively dating Paola, a younger lawyer who attended his screenings. The setting for the story, Cinemateca, is in fact a real cinema, once run by MartÃnez Carril, who here plays the cinema's director, and Jellinek is an established Uruguayan film critic, making his acting debut in this movie. The film was originally shot in colour but transferred into its final, captivating black and white tones. In Spanish with English subtitles.
