''The Magic Gloves'' ( es, Los Guantes Mágicos) is a 2003

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

drama and comedy film directed by

Martín Rejtman Martín Rejtman (born January 3, 1961, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine writer and film director. He is considered to be a key figure in the New Argentine Cinema, making films such as ''Silvia Prieto'' and ''The Magic Gloves''. His documentary '' ...

. The film stars

Vicentico Gabriel Julio Fernández Capello (born July 24, 1964 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a musician and composer better known by his stage name Vicentico. Co-founder and vocalist of the band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs along with Flavio Cianciarulo. He was ...

Valeria Bertuccelli Valeria Bertuccelli (born 1969, 30 November) is an Argentine film and television actress. Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín a ...

, Diego Olivera, Fabián Arenillas, Cecilia Biagini and Susana Pampín. The film premiered at the ''

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

'' on 12 August 2003, followed by a premiere on 8 September at the

2003 Toronto International Film Festival The 28th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 4 to September 13, 2003. A total of 336 films (252 feature length and 84 short films) from 55 countries were screened during the festival. Of the feature films, 73% were world, inte ...

. It received a theatrical release in Argentina on 27 May 2004.

Plot summary

Alejandro (

), a cab driver, and his girlfriend Cecilia are in the midst of breaking up when they become adopted by a social group led by a bossy husband and wife team, Sergio (Fabián Arenillas) and Susana (Susana Pampín). Alejandro briefly abandons his cab driving career to join an investment in plastic gloves along with Sergio and Sergio's brother, Luis, a porn star who has been working in Canada.

Reception

Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

praised the film; "The Magic Gloves is a city symphony in which the metropolis seems an illusory maze and the melody is based on a refrain of recurring riffs."Meet Cute
The Village Voice. 7 November 2006 Dan Sallitt writing in ''

Senses of Cinema ''Senses of Cinema'' is a quarterly online film magazine founded in 1999 by filmmaker Bill Mousoulis. Based in Melbourne, Australia, ''Senses of Cinema'' publishes work by film critics from all over the world, including critical essays, career ...

'' wrote that "The Magic Gloves pushes the deadpan style of Spanish comedy so far that the abstraction comes out the other end."My Own Private Toronto: The 2003 Toronto Film Festival
Senses of Cinema. December 2003

Cast

as Alejandro *

as Valeria *Fabián Arenillas as Sergio *Cecilia Biagini as Cecilia *Susana Pampín as Susana * Diego Olivera as Luis *Leonardo Azamor as Daniel *Pietr Krysav as Hugh *Denis Lukin as Kevin *Yelena Goreyeva as Laura *Darío Levy as Otorrinolaringólogo

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Gloves, The 2000s Spanish-language films 2003 films 2003 comedy-drama films Films shot in Argentina Films directed by Martín Rejtman Argentine comedy-drama films 2000s Argentine films