An Argentinian dark comedy that has one of the most known faces, from that region, Ricardo Darin. Last time I saw him was in 'XXY' a couple of years ago. Given an impressive performance for that rare subject and here he has done it once again. As I believed most people won't appreciate this piece of art, but I loved it. It was one of the kind, but you will get similar themes which are more commercialised than realistic narration.The story follows when Roberto, a hardware shop owner accidentally meets a foreigner. After seeing the stranger's poor condition he offers the help, but it seems to never go to succeed which finally ends in his head. They both speak different languages and won't understand each other a single word. Miraculously, they manage to leave all the odds behind and try to find a way to solve it. Roberto is a man who wants to be left alone, so he makes a deadline for their quest. Whether it ends successfully or not is unfolds in the remains.''There are two things I notice very quickly in people: Integrity and suffering. And you have them both''I am not sure whether it was based on the real story. Definitely it would have happened some corner of the earth's surface that the film crew is not aware of it. I am not sure either I watched a Spanish movie or Mandarin because in the movie they both equally shared. It was truly an inspiring and meaningful characteristic drama of actuality. The struggle of either of the characters was demonstrated very practically. The presentation was so casual with the feel of intense events.Musics were excellent in most of the parts, especially in the end scene it excelled. The movie had many momentum that is left to the viewers to discover themselves in what they are seeing like why these two are brought together. For that, the final scene clearly described. Yeah that part alone uplifts as much what rest of the movie attempted to disclose. If you were not heard it then okay to miss, after reading my review, you should not miss. Remember, it is not for entertainment, more like a study material on characters and to face the unprepared circumstances.8.5/10

I really enjoyed this Argentinian comedy-drama movie about a solitary man that aids an indigent Chinese man that arrives in his country and speaks no word of Spanish! It's quite a beautiful and touching story mostly because of the way it develops and helps both men finding their way to happiness. It's told in the beginning that this story is based on true events. If so, it's even better and interesting.Roberto (played by Ricardo Darín) is a solitary man that lives in a poor house and owns a small shop. He's very methodic and has some strange habits and hobbies. For instance, he shuts down the light before sleep everyday on 23pm, o'clock, on the precise second (!) and collects bizarre and absurd true stories he cuts from newspapers (I also appreciated the way those stories are told in the film: Roberto imagines the story as he was there and assumes the character of that little story, like Amélie Poulain in AMÉLIE ). But his live is not easy. He's afraid to release his feelings and emotions and he's very closed and linked to the past. At the same time he's very honest, has a strong personality and is a person with great moral values. Precisely what will make him rescue Juan, the lost Chinese man (played by Ignacio Huang) and help him against everything, even other Chinese people, who are unwilling to aid Juan… (by the way it's hilarious the scene when they go to a Chinese neighborhood in Buenos Aires and when Juan starts speaking in Chinese, to his compatriot, the other man says in Spanish – "I don't understand him!! He's talking in Cantonese and I speak Mandarin! It's a different language!" AHAH! Of course he's right but the situation is hilarious and priceless!). So, it's for this man, with such noble character, that Mari (Muriel Santa Ana), a friend and neighbor of Roberto, will fall in love. But he seems to not care, he seems to be afraid of her… or maybe he's just afraid of himself… However, helping Juan Roberto will help himself too as we will see in the end of the film. I don't use to appreciate beautiful and happy endings but here I did! I really enjoyed the way this film ended, especially because what it meant to Roberto and to the way his life turned around! This film is delicious by its humor, its drama and also because of all those little circumstances portrayed, that can really happen to every one of us and change our lives!

I need to say that Argentine cinema is surprising me more and more at each movie I watch. They are decades ahead of us here in Brazil. Not that we don't ever produce good works.A rich cast and a good script makes Un cuento chino a excellent option to amuse you at any time, being you alone and sad or laughing with friends.Trust me, the jokes and the faces are priceless. Ricardo Darín is at his best form, doing what he is best of. His character, Roberto, is an slang disturbed man. He owns a ironware store where he always counts hot many bolts are in the box, so he is not cheated. He turn off the lights every day at 23 pm, etc. One day he is sitting there near the airport, watching the planes takin' off, drinking his beer when this china is thrown off a moving cab. Roberto decide to help the poor boy and, since then, their lives will suffer some changes.

Jun, a Chinese man, is seen with his would be wife on a boat. The setting serves as a romantic place in which he will propose marriage to her. Unfortunately, fate intervenes in the way of a cow falling from the sky, killing the woman and ending his aspirations.The scene changes to a contemporary hardware store in Buenos Aires where Roberto, the owner, is counting screws. Instead of the number specified in the box, Roberto has been gypped, something, he notices, that occurs all the time. He curses the company that cannot even count right. He is a man of few words who does not take kindly to idiots that come into his shop. One thing Roberto loves is to cut articles from newspapers with bizarre stories. The best are pasted on an album he keeps.One day, a Chinese man arrives at the store. It is Jun, the Chinese man we saw first. He has come looking for a relative, whose address he was given, is the one where the De Cesare's Hardware is located. Roberto does not understand a thing Jun is trying to tell him, and vice-versa. Since Jun has no place to go, and not acquainted with the city, he stays close to Roberto's shop. Roberto takes pity on the poor Jun by taking him to the embassy, where they promise to contact Jun's relatives. Roberto has a friend, Mari, who sees in the foreigner a man to be pitied having come from so far away to an uncertain future. Mari is also interested in Roberto in a more romantic way, although he seems oblivious to the way she looks at him.Through his newspaper clippings, we get to know a little bit of Roberto's life and his involvement in the Falklands war. There is an article that shows a young Roberto and the tragedy the country suffered plus the humiliation afterward, something that can explain his strange behavior. Trying to get Jun occupied, Roberto asks Jun to paint his patio. Roberto is in for a big surprise after Jun leaves, having found his distant uncle, by what Jun decided to paint on his wall!An interesting film from Argentina, written and directed by Sebastian Borensztein, the son of well known and witty comedian Tato Bores. The film works in unexpected ways because it is a comedy with an important message sandwiched in between. The title refers to the kind of stories that are so far fetched, they are not true. Roberto lives through exactly that, stories that are so incredible, that he puts himself in them, trying to make sense to escape his lonely existence.One could not imagine what the film might have been without the great Ricardo Darin playing Roberto. The actor is without a doubt one of the best actors working today. The intelligence of Mr. Darin permeates everything he does; he is no one other than Roberto, the strange shop owner facing a dilemma about what to do with his life. Ignacio Huang plays Jun and Muriel Santa Ana is Mari.