Strong and Moving!

Charming and brutal

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Abrazo Partido (Lost Embrace) is a beautiful portrayal of the inner workings of a community of minorities in Buenos Aires. Each has a specific store in the galería and the audience watches as the story of each person is played out before the eyes of Ariel Makaroff, the protagonist. Ariel is struggling with the absence of his father and is seeking to fill that void with his Polish heritage and hopes of a fortune-filled future in Europe. The filming style is unique; with many scenes being seen over the shoulder of a character but the story is well presented. The director, Daniel Burman, captures the Makaroff family and how their stories intertwine with those of the other people working in the galleria. It is a heart-warming story that is applicable in some way to every audience. The authenticity of the characters and the reality of the situations they each encounter adds to the universality of the plot.

Actually I'm from Lithuania and I was interested in this film, because from the film synopsis and credits I have learned that it shows lives of Eastern European immigrants in Argentina and Lithuania belongs to Eastern Europe. Maybe you don't know, but in first part of XX century there was big flow of emigration from Lithuania to South America. So I was very surprised, when I saw girl from Lithuania in film speaking ... Russian when film credits indicate that she is speaking ... Lithuanian. Next thing, her name is Vilna and there is no such Lithuanian name. Perhaps it was made up from name of Lithuanian capital Vilnius or misspelled from Vilma. In America, especially USA, people from Lithuania are regarded as being Russians, and for Lithuanians who were occupied bu Soviet Union it is an insult, but it does not relieve director or script writer from responsibility to check about subject depicted. Especially when film pretends to be in reality style. Cinematogapyhy and storyline is good, I do not argue, but poor analysis of the details casts doubt about reality value of this film and its pretensions to social criticism.

This is one of those warm, funny little movies that make you laugh, cry and everything in between. The relationships between these characters, who are barely holding it together while their world falls apart, is really touching. The diversity of this group of immigrants sharing a "galería" - a kind of commercial space that filled the streets of Buenos Aires before the arrival of the shopping malls - certainly adds interest and make all these great character actors shine. Even though the theme and mood are quite different, it reminds me of another little movie that really touched me, "Walk on Water." When in doubt...go see both!

"Lost Embrace (El Abrazo partido)" is like a modern Sholom Aleichem story set in a Yiddishkeit neighborhood of Buenos Aires that feels very much like NYC's Lower East Side.Here, the village full of multi-generational eccentric characters is a small mall in the middle of the city where each of a variety of Jews and other immigrants is long familiar with and tolerant of the other's idiosyncrasies and mysteries.As played by Daniel Hendler, Ariel is an adorable slacker who thinks the solution to his ennui is to become European but ends up searching this community for his full identity and heritage -- as a Jew, as a grandson of Polish immigrants, as a mother's son, as a son of a father in Israel, as a lover, a brother, friend and Argentinian. His loving relationship with his brightly henna-haired mother as he helps out at her lingerie shop is both unusually sweet and mature and a nice counter-point to how Jewish mothers are usually portrayed.Co-writer/director Daniel Burman uses the midrashic technique of having each question asked by the central character answered by a story, with titles appearing on screen as chapter headings. Each story is open to Talmudic-like interpretation by the participants and leads to unexpected revelations. For example, the joke from "Fiddler in the Roof" of traders arguing about whether it was a mule or a donkey is here an ongoing feud about whether it was in pesos or dollars.While his quest greatly impacts the others he questions as each makes important changes in habits, it is a bit confusing that the more Ariel gradually learns about his history and just how entwined he is in his community, the less he is able to assimilate it into his image of himself. He does seem to learn forgiveness or maybe at least tolerance and empathy, but the sum totaling of all the charming anecdotes is that he can accept eating a certain symbolic sandwich.Ah, life goes on in this easy-going tale.