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FAMILY LAW Send This Review to a Friend
Argentine writer-director Daniel Burman, who’s previous “Lost Embrace” was an excellent achievement, is back with “Family Law,” less dynamic but affecting in its own perceptive way. Father and son relations are key in the story, involving a successful lawyer, his son who is attempting to go his own way, the son’s marriage, and in turn, his efforts to be a father to his young son.
Arturno Goetz plays Bernardo Perlman, a widower and lawyer of Polish-Jewish background, who lives in Buenos Aires and works diligently with his careful routine. His son Ariel, played by Daniel Hendler, is also a lawyer, but of another stripe. He prefers to teach law than follow in his father’s footsteps. Ariel is married to Sandra, who teaches the physical fitness program Pilates, and they have a two-year-old son named Gastón.
Ariel is self-absorbed and not the sort who yearns to be a great success in life. What he learns about his father becomes important in gaining more appreciation for him and in charting his own future course. The juxtaposition of the two fathers and sons is intriguing, and through understanding his own father and regretting not becoming more involved with him, Ariel gains insight into the importance of having a close relationship with his own son.
The film has an easygoing tone that is at once engaging and informative, and one can appreciate Burman’s skill at examining relationships in a manner that entertains as well as offers insights. An IFC First Take release.
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