(2002)
3.5
Josh Ralske
Adrián Caetano's Red Bear is a gritty low-budget family drama that falls back on overly familiar crime drama tropes as its plot kicks into high gear. Julio Chávez's gruff tough-guy performance in the lead is pitch-perfect, and the film captures the aura of Argentina in economic despair. A subplot involving Oso (Chávez) having to do the perennial "one more job" is handled with style and economy, but it's still a hackneyed plot device. Still, Oso's efforts to reconnect with his estranged family are portrayed with a welcome lack of sentimentality. The film is strongest in its terse family drama, as Oso and his young daughter, Alicia (Agostina Lage), try to figure each other out, carefully mapping out a new relationship, while his ex-wife, Natalia (Soledad Villamil), deals with a new set of domestic woes, stemming from the unemployment and gambling addiction of her boyfriend, Sergio (Luis Machín). At times, it seems like Caetano is stacking the deck a bit by making Sergio a petulant, whiny loser, but Machín makes all his foibles recognizably human, and eventually it seems like he'll probably take better care of his family than Oso could. While that subplot, reminiscent of a dozen other crime dramas, and Oso's superhuman ability with violence strain credulity, the poignant dysfunctional family at the film's center gives Red Bear a surprising emotional pull.
A Red Bear on AllMovie
A Red Bear (2002)
