Rent Whisky (2004)

Utter deadpan - Whisky review by JD

I thought the Brits did the ultimate deadpan. This Argentine production is extreme. No one else who watched this film with me got it, and I was left alone sobbing with joy. A more flat and unrelentingly morose humour I cannot imagine. Like Marmite, you will either love it.....

methodical, slow and real - Whisky review by CP Customer

I really liked this, methodical, slow and real.

Couldn't fault any of it. However if you are looking for a laugh out loud film this isn't it. This is more like Historias Minimas with smaller cast and budget, Lars and the Real Girl in terms of funny, but maybe not quite so. Acutally a bit more real and thinky than Lars. I suppose it is a bit About Schmidt too.

Tea, Sympathy and Industrial-Grade Repression - Whisky review by griggs

Some films whisper. Whisky barely raises an eyebrow.

I tend to enjoy films about people who struggle to say what they mean, and this is built almost entirely from that. These people don’t bottle up their emotions; they weld them into a reinforced concrete bunker. Somehow, it’s very funny without ever looking like it’s trying to be.

Jacobo’s small, repetitive life is treated seriously: the sock factory, the daily rituals, the photocopiers, the cups of tea. The static camera, minimal dialogue and deadpan performances all serve a purpose. This isn’t arthouse affectation with subtitles and a stiff collar; it’s emotional constipation as comedy.

The fake marriage isn’t really about fooling Herman. It gives Jacobo and Marta a brief glimpse of another life, which makes the deception oddly tender.

At times, Whisky is almost too understated. I admired it slightly more than I loved it. But any film where making an extra cup of tea counts as emotional fireworks is doing something right.