Antena, La

Argentina • 2007 • 99m •

• Directed by: Esteban Sapir. • Starring: Valeria Bertuccelli, Alejandro Urdapilleta, Julieta Cardinali, Rafael Ferro, Florencia Raggi, Sol Moreno, Jonathan Sandor, Raúl Hochman, Ricardo Merkin, Carlos Piñeiro, Camila Offerman, Alejandro Regueiro, Christian Amat. • Music by: Leo Sujatovich.

A society that has literally lost its ability to speak after bowing to the constant barrage of broadcasts and products of the omnipresent Mr.TV. It is year X in the City Without a Voice, and the only individual who retains the ability to convey her thoughts through speech is the mysterious Voice. A faceless singer whose soothing songs are heard on one of Mr. TV's most popular programs, The Voice comes under threat when Mr. TV teams with Dr. Y to take total control of the thrush and use her vocal chords to pursue their own nefarious plan.

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Trailer #1

1:56

Trailer #2

1:47

Trailer #3

1:45

Review:

La Antena, an audacious film by Argentine director Esteban Sapir, succeeds both as a reinvention of the silent movie genre and a gripping cautionary tale. The setting is a city in thrall to mindless television, its people deprived of the power of speech except for a solitary and mysterious screen presence known simply as The Voice. In a bid to cement their grip on power the marvellously villainous duo of television mogul Mr. TV and mad scientist Dr. Y set out to kidnap The Voice and turn her unique talent towards their own dastardly ends. It is up to a young family and The Voice's nameless, eyeless son to stop this evil scheme. The result is a roller coaster of a story that is bewildering on occasion but never less than engrossing.

This is a silent movie that wears many of its influences on its sleeve; the overt references to silent movie greats such as George Melies and Fritz Lang will be readily apparent to anyone with a passing familiarity of their work. But more subtle references and symbolism lie behind such tributes. I particularly like the fact that Mr. TV and his henchman drive around in typical 1930s gangster cars, drawn from the decade when the silent movie era died away and a very different industry began to emerge.

La Antena mines the clichéd plot devices and theatrical over-acting common to so many silent films, albeit in a very knowing and humorous way. It is the astonishing visual style of La Antena that really sets it apart from the movies that it pays homage to. From the hypnotic TV logo to the menacing hilltop transmission station, this film abounds with dazzling visual inventiveness that is the rival of a Studio Ghibli animation -' and all this using real actors and handmade sets.

Moreover, though the style is often intentionally corny and theatrical, this is still an unsettling, provocative and emotional picture. The use of religious symbolism throughout La Antena lends added resonance to the struggle between the TV Empire and the waning power of words. At the same time, many of the most powerful images are original ones, including the hypnotic swirl of the television sets and the nightmarish TV food factory.

Review by Robert_Woodward from the Internet Movie Database.