Viola

Worlds don't exactly collide when Viola (María Villar) meets William Shakespeare's "Viola" (Agustina Muñoz) in Argentine writer-director Matías Piñeiro's comically magical film, but they do harmonize and overlap in such unexpected ways that no one in this ingenious story is ever aware of mysterious forces afoot. Viola opens with Sabrina (Elisa Carricajo)—who stars as Olivia in a stage production of Twelfth Night—breaking up with her boyfriend. Cecilia (Muñoz) is Sabrina's costar in the play, taking the role of Viola, a woman pretending to be a male emissary on behalf of Olivia's would-be suitor. The complex dynamics between Sabrina and Cecilia's roles spill offstage when the latter decides to prove that the newly single Sabrina can be seduced simply by telling her what she wants to hear. In a buoyant, insightful, and sexy scene, the women privately exchange Twelfth Night dialogue until the words carry an entirely different emotional context. Suddenly, the film pivots to the other Viola (Villar), an underachiever who (like her Twelfth Night counterpart) also serves as an obscure go-between for strangers and their fantasies, delivering bootlegged movies to private customers. Viola will cross paths with Sabrina and Cecilia on a journey that merges dreams and reality in this delightful film that will charm fans of the Bard. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)