Funny, dramatic, and emotional: a reunion in Israel of a dysfunctional Argentinian Jewish family whose members haven’t seen each other for ten years. Two universal subjects are in focus: the price of emigration and “a person with a disability is more than just his disability”.
Hola Chao
Directed by: Jorge (Johanan) Weller
(Israel 2025, 86 mins, Hebrew and Spanish with English subtitles)
Cast: Pablo Rosenberg, Danna Avram Semo, Coral Maltz, Noe Umansky, Sandra Schonwald, Reef Neeman, Shahar Tavoch, Kevin Rubin, Shosh Poliakov, Lotus Etrog.
Synopsis:
Marcelo (53) of Argentinian roots is a frustrated and neurotic movie producer who is unsuccessful in his profession and can’t write his next screenplay. Marcelo lives with his Israeli-born wife, his children, his son-in-law, his mother-in-law, his mother-in-law’s caretaker, and a crazy cat in a small apartment in a modest neighborhood in Israel. His life is in total chaos.
Marcello is convinced that life can’t be any more difficult and stressful, and then, suddenly, to his complete surprise, his almost blind “philosopher” father and his slightly mentally challenged but charming sister arrive in Israel, straight from Argentina, after not having met for 10 years. They move to Marcello’s home for “only” a month, until Marcello’s older sister in Argentina will be able to continue taking care of them once more, as she has been doing all these years.
The visit, which starts as a horror movie, slowly turns into a sweet comedy, creates a change in the lives of Marcello and his family, and makes Marcello look at life from a different perspective.
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