Officially, the film is a comedy and indeed there are many comedic influences to be found in the film. Initially, it starts off with a quick paced theatrical scene where the crew discusses how they are going to be able to trick the European producers into financing their "treasure hunt" without having anything substantial to offer them - or even a script - and how to convince them to shift the production to a part of Argentina that will take them closer to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This whole sequences is made up of quick wit and intelligent references to the overall ignorance that is of this world, but an arrogance in faking a sense of guilt about serious matters that have haunted the conscience of South American countries, such as its poverty and the shadow of colonisation.
Nevertheless, conventionally speaking, it still exploits the adventure film narrative structure that surprisingly closely recalls the classic novel Treasure Island, which is claimed in the opening credits to be one of its prime influences. Only, it is subjective whether of not we believe the film crew to be pirates, given their overall disenchantment with the modern film industry based on the commercialisation of meaningful political messages and where everyone has a double motive. While the crew is using the cover up of the film production to set off on a treasure hunt, the producers are using a supposed political importance of a co-production between Europe and Argentina as well as the importance of the themes that would be dealt with in the film as a cover up for the fact that they too have another motive behind their professional decision - the cheap labour and overall cheap costs of filming a project in that area.
Throughout the film we go from slapstick to sophisticated comedy and satire, in a riveting blend of style and context that might be excitingly intelligent for some but might even more than likely confuse people that are less willing to be intrigued by the overall message of cine-decadence that the filmmakers are trying to illustrate - conveyed by the semplicity of the style that sometimes even resembles a creative excercise in guerrilla filmmaking with illustrious influiences that recall the style of Miguel Gomes and Manoel de Oliveira. Nevertheless, a particularly sharp penmenship in the script prevents The Gold Bug from ever really suffering from dullness and indeed a times even the most highbrow of satirical comments, that also point at themes of obsession and selfishness, are an absolute delight.
