Línea de Cuatro might be an unpalatable Argentine version of Diner. Four men in their 30s get together to watch the WC 2014 final between Argentina and Germany. They haven’t been together in the 4 years since their 5th comrade Sebastian killed himself.
Over 90 minutes of regulation time, they sort of catch up on each other’s lives. Germán (Carlos Eisler) is a frustrated director, Martin (Diego Echegoyen) is an app developer who moved to Germany, Pedro (Alejandro Hener) is a struggling divorced father who seduces his students, and Javier (Alejandro Lifschitz) is a penny-pinching hen-pecked accountant going for an MBA.
Since the English title was Back Four, I assumed these guys were teammates, but they didn’t talk about any shared team experiences. That left a hole, because I never understood why these 4 were friends in the first place.
In the first half of the game and film, the banter between the men is more attacking and confrontational than it is friendly. In the second half the dialogue is more confessional, and it is not until the end of regulation that they discuss the elephant in the room that is the missing Sebastian.
In conclusion
Línea de Cuatro was a first feature for the Writer-Director pair of Nicolás Diodovich and Diego Bliffeld. They prepped the production during the 2014 World Cup and shot the film in 3 days. The soccer consists of the guys yelling and groaning at the play on the TV.
I was very disappointed with this film. The first half is very slow. The acting and directing is good, but none of the men are sympathetic. And it feels like the characters and the storytellers take a cowardly approach to the ending. Rather than execute a determinative action, they leave it to be decided by the outcome of the game.
Rather than do the research, I should have instead added this film to my list of Amazon films not worth your time.
4 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 4
Resources
- Released: 2016 (Australia)
- In Spanish with English sub-titles
- English title is Back Four
- IMDB
- Director: Nicolás Diodovich , Diego Bliffeld
- Stars: Carlos Manuel Eisler , Alejandro Lifschitz , Alejandro Hener , Diego Echegoyen
- Watch the Trailer
