*** Cinecenta Passes not accepted for VFF Films***

Based on a true story, Steve Coogan plays Tom Michell, an English professor who arrives in Buenos Aires to teach at a private school on the eve of the coup d’etat that plunged Argentina into turmoil in 1976. Tom is cynical, sarcastic and disillusioned and the circumstances of his employment and the situation around him do nothing to improve his attitude. Jonathan Pryce, as the admonishing headmaster advising all to keep out of the chaos, is on point. 

During a brief escape to Uruguay, Tom rescues a penguin from an oil slick to impress a woman he has just met. Tom tries to convince the penguin to return to the ocean, but the penguin has other ideas and insists on staying close to his rescuer. And so begins the relationship between Tom and the charmingly named Juan Salvador.  

Juan Salvador casts a spell on everyone who meets him, and he quickly becomes Tom’s best friend and confidante.  

Director Cattaneo (Full Monty) weaving comedy and drama together, tempers the dark backdrop of a turbulent time with the beguiling little penguin and a sense of reawakening personal and political responsibility. – RW