PJFF REVIEW: I Miss You (C+)

One might spend the entire 105 minutes of I Miss You waiting to understand how it is a commentary on the Jewish experience.

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PJFF REVIEW: I Miss You (C+)

POSTED: Monday, November 14, 2011, 12:00 PM

Filed Under: Movies

As far as its placement in the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival is concerned, I Miss You (Te Extrano) is a strange choice. There is one subtle reference to the film’s principal family’s Jewish heritage and involvement in the Holocaust — but if this brief moment of dialogue is missed, one might spend the entire 105 minutes of the film waiting to understand how it is a commentary on the Jewish experience. Set in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the film is instead a fairly stereotypical account of a teenage boy’s struggle with self-understanding.

The protagonist, Javier (Fermin Volcoff), has been shoved into the shadows his entire life by older brother Adrian (Martin Slipak). Javier idolizes his brother’s bravery, electric personality and overall control of his own life decisions. He is frustrated with his own inability to emulate these qualities, he argues with his mother and father, is sexually intimidated around his high school crushes, and socially awkward around his older brother’s friends. If you’re still waiting to hear what separates this film from others about the tender teenage years — you and I both.

When Adrian disappears during a mission with his rebel involvement in the military coup of 1976, Javier is forced to reconsider his previous life aspirations, namely those to precisely fit his older brother’s course, and his character begins to quietly develop. Director Fabian Hofman chose to make this potentially pivotal moment in the film as gradual and passive as growing up typically occurs in real life. So, while this was an interesting structural decision on Hofman’s end, it leaves the film without momentum or climax. Hell, we don’t even get a sneak peek into the big moment during the amateur love scenes.

Ironically, given the predictable nature of the majority of the film, I Miss You ends on an unexpected note — one that may just be the jump-off point for a sequel that follows Javier in a more dynamic account of his dark, rebellious years as a young adult tormented by unresolved identity crises and daddy issues.

Nov. 13, Hiway Theater, gershmany.org/pjff.

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