Set in Uruguay during the 1960s, Álvaro Brechner's drama follows small-time promoter “Prince” Orsini as he travels about the country staging wrestling bouts for Jacob van Oppen, an alcoholic East German émigré whose athletic halcyon days are long past. The pair arrive in a town that Orsini dubs “a hole in the middle of nowhere” and begin to ply their well-worn routine of arranging for a local competitor to be paid to meet van Oppen in a rigged match. In this case, however, Orsini's scheme slowly falls apart—not surprisingly, given a pre-credit sequence that previews the results. Gary Piquer is wonderfully oleaginous as Orsini, and the film works best when he's doing his delightfully atrocious scams. But Brechner never allows Piquer to go full-throttle, instead moving the tale along at a much too leisurely pace, which blunts the impact of the chaotic climax. As the broken-down wrestler, Jouko Ahola—a Finnish champion in the World's Strongest Man competitions—is a physically commanding presence who effectively captures his character's emotional depths. But here he's off-screen too much—even though he's supposedly the center of attention. As a result, Bad Day to Go Fishing ends up being a lopsided, unfocused work with a great story buried inside. Optional. (P. Hall)
Bad Day to Go Fishing
Film Movement, 107 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 26, Issue 3
Bad Day to Go Fishing
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