Pizza, birra, y faso: A very Argentine Film

Title: Pizza, birra, y faso (Pizza, Beer and Smokes)
Released: 1998
Director:: Adrián Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro

Plot Summary

Low-budget Argentine film Pizza, birra, y faso reminded me of Spanish film Tapas, in that it can most be appreciated by those who have spent a significant amount of time in Argentina (or Spain in the case of Tapas) or who are Argentines (or Spaniards) themselves. Even the movie's name pegs it as Argentine, using regional slang birra y faso rather than the more broadly used cerveza and cigarillos.

For those of you who have spent a lot of time in Argentina, you'll appreciate the street scenes, heavy use of local slang, and bringing in elements of everyday routine, like riding buses and taxis in Buenos Aires. The film provides an element of reality and daily life that recent mainstream Argentine films like Nueve Reinas lack.

The storyline is slightly dark, with a struggling group of friends that turn to robbery in order to make a living rather than finding un trabajo decente, as Cordobés's pregnant girlfriend Sandra begs him to pursue. As the crew gets more desperate, their robberies become more bold, and more dangerous. The group plans one final heist, and Cordobés and Sandra hope to use the money to start over in Montevideo.

Language Learning Notes

The film is full of slang and would be tough to understand without subtitles for anyone who hasn't spent a significant amount of time around the Argentine accent.