Sergio De León

Nieves is my oldest neighbor, in every way. He has just turned 90 and for a long time we have lived next to each other, balcony to balcony, in the Old City of Montevideo. I thought I knew her. During the confinement of 2020, filming her with my cell phone and trying to keep a distance of two meters, I discovered a woman undone in light and blooming in stars.

Nieves is my oldest neighbor, in every way. He has just turned 90 and for a long time we have lived next to each other, balcony to balcony, in the Old City of Montevideo. I thought I knew her. During the confinement of 2020, filming her with my cell phone and trying to keep a distance of two meters, I discovered a woman undone in light and blooming in stars.

Nieves is my oldest neighbor, in every way. He has just turned 90 and for a long time we have lived next to each other, balcony to balcony, in the Old City of Montevideo. I thought I knew her. During the confinement of 2020, filming her with my cell phone and trying to keep a distance of two meters, I discovered a woman undone in light and blooming in stars.

Juan tries to rescue Ulises from oblivion by showing his latest paintings, which have been hidden for 20 years. A documentary that is also a love story between two free men and that marks the debut as a director of Sergio de León.

Miguel Ángel García Mazziotti, a Río de la Plata's decadent showbiz gay figure, receives the visit of his daughter Virginia, of whom he has been distanced for years. "The Fat", as everybody calls him in Punta del Este, openly rejects her visit, but when realizes will become a grandfather he can't help getting thrilled and celebrate Virginia's happiness. As a result they share a real familiar weekend that, as many families, to be happy it has to be fake.

After being fired from his job, Norberto tries his luck as a real estate agent, but he doesn't tell his wife right away. His new boss advises him to take an assertiveness course to overcome his shyness, and Norberto starts taking classes in an acting workshop for beginners. While he works toward the quarterly festival, Norberto fails to get his wife and clients to believe anything he says, but he finds out he is very good at lying to himself.

Aurelio Saravia is a powerful politician who holds office in Uruguay in the mid-1960's. When Aurelio's mistress kills herself, he adopts their illegitimate daughter Masangeles despite the stern objections of his wife Aurora. Masangeles finds herself growing up in a home ruled by a corrupt and self-centered tyrant and his manic colleagues while Uruguay teeters on the brink of civil war as bands of revolutionaries battle government militias. When she turns fourteen, Masangeles discovers a secret passageway in their home that leads to sanctuary in a nearby church which also serves as a storehouse for guns and ill-gotten cash. Teenage Masangeles falls in love with Santiago, her stepbrother who has joined the rebels fighting against the state, and she persuades him to take her virginity.

The tale of five Uruguayan villagers who embark on a journey to see the ocean for the first time. They depart in a broken down freight truck, property of Rodríguez, a taciturn man who loves the sea. Their point of departure is a local bar, and at the last minute, an unknown man from the bar joins their adventure.

Four stories of normal Montevideans like you and me, but with one thing in common: bad luck. One figure, the master of the ceremony, ties stories together commenting on the failures of those four people, as he tries to make his fortune on a slot-machine.