Chinese Take-Away (7.5/10) - "I have a Chinaman living in my house who doesn't speak a word of Spanish!"

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Ricardo Darin is the best Argentinian actor of an entire generation and I don't remember watching a movie with him that wasn't good. I have known about this comedy-drama film for quite some time but never watched it until yesterday. This was the second Argentinian comedy-drama I have watched where an important part of the story is related to China or Chinese people, the first one was From Here to China and it was all right.

In Chinese Take-Away Ricardo Darin plays the main role, he is a grumpy man in his 50s who owns a small hardware store. He is single and has no family but he has his acquaintances and a lot of people know him and talk with him on a daily basis. Even though he is grumpy he has a lot of integrity and a very noble soul.

One day, while eating his lunch alone as always, he sees a taxi driver kicking a Chinese man out of the car. The Chinese is crying and yelling and no one helps him so he decides to step up and try to see what he can do to help. They are unable to communicate with each other because the Chinese man only speaks Chinese. So the only thing they can do is to communicate with signs.

Darin's character will do everything in his power to provide the helping hand this Chinaman needs but this won't be an easy task. There will be a lot of frustration, some fights, but also a few touching moments.

The story is a hell of a journey between these 2 characters as both of them make personal sacrifices in order to get along with each others. This was mainly a drama with just a few funny moments here and there.

This was an enjoyable film for me but I am not sure if non-Spanish speaking people would be able to enjoy it as much. When Darin's character is pissed off he starts to either mutter or yells insults and translating this into subtitles isn't the same. Nevertheless, the story is very good and most viewers will probably have a good time seeing it.

The best

• It was an excellent drama-comedy story.
• Ricardo Darin's performance was very good.

The worst

• It wasn't very funny. The comedy scenes and moments should have been better.

More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1705786/ Review: AAA In numbers: 7.5/10