THEY ALL LIE (Todos Mienten) (2009) - ♦♦

Directed by - Matias Pineiro

Written by - Matias Pineiro

Starring - Romina Paula, Maria Villar, Julia Martinez Rubio

"They All Lie is a challenging film born of an interesting mixture of Argentinian history and European arthouse cinema influences. The mix, however, remains widely unfulfilled. 

Its story revolves around a group of young people living in a creative and utopian setting, a house in which they play an elaborate game based on literature and storytelling, which is frankly impossible to follow. However, director Pineiro seems more keen on shifting a viewer's attention to the contours of the story, and to an inspection of the evolution of the psychological, sexual and emotional tenstion that develops between the characters, which is good, given the obnoxious hipster readings of the works of Sarmiento - the seventh president of Argentina who championed intelligent thought. 

Both historical context and characters will most likely remain impenetrable to most viewers, the first being far too obscure for an international audience and the second suffering from the film's focus on the collective rather than the individual. In these sense, even the split provided by its female components, portrayed more strongly than the widely submissive males, seems a little lost. With these aspects failing to meet expectations, there is really not much left to talk about."

Drama, Argentina