3 – Pablo Stoll Ward

3  (Pablo Stoll Ward – Uruguay/Argentina/Germany)  115 minutes

Uruguayan filmmaker Pablo Stoll Ward returns with his fourth film – his first two were co-directed with the late Juan Pablo Rebella. 3 tells the tale of a few months in the life of a semi-estranged nuclear family. Ana (Anaclara Ferreyra Palfy) is a disengaged seventeen-year-old, at risk of being expelled from school for constant truancy and lateness. Her mother, Graciela (Sara Bessio) is spending long hours at the hospital caring for her dying aunt. Meanwhile,  father Rodolfo (Humberto de Vargas) is becoming disillusioned with his dentistry practice while his second marriage turns sour. He then starts sniffing around the old family home, in the hope of ingratiating himself with his daughter and possibly sparking something up with his ex-wife.

Graciela, however has started seeing another carer she has met in the hospital, Dustin ("like Dustin Hoffman") (Néstor Guzzini). Ana spends her time chasing after older men, of vaguely rock-star allure, leaving Rodolfo, on his own in the family homestead he has managed to inveigle his way back into.

While 3 is certainly a likeable film, with fine performances from all, and Stoll has a gently, unobtrusive directorial touch, there are a few too many false notes in it. Ana, despite being uninterested in pretty much everything around her and approaching things with a consequently crippling lethargy, (nothing incredible in that for a teenager) still manages to get called up to the national handball team. The soundtrack is plastered with rock songs, sometimes overlaid in a very awkward fashion. It’s often distracting as is the guitar-driven score (the guitar is a risky instrument to use for film music – too often it can overwhelm the visuals). Rodolfo’s obsessive-compulsive tidiness is rather wearily contrasted with the more unkempt habits of Graciela. It is only really with Graciela that the film succeeds, largely thanks to an economy of means. She is a brooding, wounded woman, whose pride will not allow her to take her ex-husband back, however lonely and unfulfilling her life might be. Ultimately though, 3, for all its qualities, is overlong and has very little to set itself apart from numerous  similar recent films from the cone of South America.

A Great Little Country

It was already easy, as an Irishman, to choose sides in tonight's Group A match between France and Uruguay. I have to say though that the look of the current Uruguayan side, with what is one of the most electrifying strike force in world football, Luís Suárez of Ajax and Atlético's Diego Forlán - close to 100 goals between them this past season. I also have an admiration for Uruguayan football that survived the experience of watching their ugly abrasive sides of the 1980s. It's hard not to admire a tiny country that dominated international football in its early days, shocking Europe by winning two Olympics in the 1920s, winning the World Cup on home soil in 1930 and only a fit of pique prevented them from travelling to Italy to defend their crown in 1934. And then there was the 1950 World Cup-winning captain, Obdulio Varela, (pictured) possibly one of the greatest, noblest men ever to play professional football. And there was also the magnificent Enzo Francescoli, the only saving grace of the disgraceful team that could have lit up Mexico 86 but chose instead to kick everyone in sight. Uruguay did nothing special in qualifying but the memory of their valiant efforts against Senegal and Denmark eight years ago is fresh enough to root for them and hope for some magic.

And they will believe of course that France and within their reach. I still believe les bleus will repeat their first round exit of 2002. Everyone blames it on Raymond Domenech but there's been a culture of shiftlessness in the French set-up that predates him by some time. The way they collapsed in Korea without Zidane and their uniformly awful performances in Portugal two years later suggest that the rot is deep set. I don't expect it to be resolved in this competition.

In the meantime, here's some classic Uruguayan rock from the 1960s. It's Los Shakers, you might be able to spot one or two of their influences: