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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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A Stray Girlfriend (2008)

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

A Report from SFIFF

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

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SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: In recent years I've seen several amazing films from Argentina (La Cienaga, Nine Queens, Bolivia, Suddenly, The Holy Girl, etc.) but Ana Katz's A Stray Girlfriend isn't one of them. Katz plays the lead role, Ines, a woman whose boyfriend suddenly abandons her during a vacation. She decides to check into the hotel herself. We might expect her to overcome her bad karma, fall in love and leave a happier and more fulfilled person; but she's so needy and pathetic that she pretty much stays that way throughout. I couldn't quite figure out if Katz took a huge risk in presenting her character in this sour light, or if she failed to see the material with the correct perspective. Either way, it's difficult to hang with Ines as she spends all her time sobbing into the phone, getting drunk or getting sick. Likewise, A Stray Girlfriend lacks the key element that made those other films work; a patient, observant tone and a poetic understanding of the surrounding space.

Starring: Ana Katz, Carlos Portaluppi, Daniel Hendler, Arturo Goetz, Erica Rivas, Nicolas Tacconi, Violeta Urtizberea
Written by: Ana Katz, Inés Bortagaray
Directed by: Ana Katz
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Language: Spanish, with English subtitles
Running Time: 90 minutes
Date: April 28, 2008