Chinese Take-Away

A chance meeting in Buenos Aires brings together two men with almost nothing in common. Roberto runs a hardware store and keeps the world at arm's length, his days fixed by routine and his own stubborn habits. Jun has just arrived from China, speaks no Spanish, and is stranded in the city after being thrown out of a car while searching for the uncle who is his only relative in Argentina. Reluctantly, Roberto takes him in, and the two begin an uneasy shared life that gradually draws Roberto out of the solitude he has held onto for years. A woman from the countryside, Mari, keeps trying to get close to him as well, while fragments of both men's pasts come to the surface.

The film is Sebastián Borensztein's first feature as director, made from his own screenplay, and it was produced between Argentina and Spain on a budget of about five million dollars. Ricardo Darín plays Roberto, with Ignacio Huang as Jun, Muriel Santa Ana as Mari and Carolina Hsu as Li, among a credited cast of 35. In 93 minutes it stays within comedy while touching on loss and loneliness. On TMDB it holds a rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 452 votes, a solid showing for an Argentine release. Borensztein went on to direct Kóblic, Heroic Losers, Rest in Peace and Instincts.