Best Uruguayan films – Clever #NotForTheMediocre

Still bitter from his recent divorce, martial arts teacher Clever comes across a car pimped out with flames and sets out on a single-minded hunt – to find the artist and treat his Chevette. His quest takes him to Las Palmas, a one-horse town deep in the heart of rural Uruguay and the artist – a sensitive body-builder who still lives with his mother.

With a fantastic original soundtrack by Ismael Varela, Clever, an ironic treatise against being one of the herd, is garnering great reviews locally and nationally. Clever will appear at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2016. The Festival describes the film as: “Delightfully odd and idiosyncratic, Clever is an absurd satire of the fragile façade of masculinity.” You can read more about Clever and the directors’ vision on the Clever Film website.

My Clever connection

Hugo Piccinini, the actor who plays Clever, gave me guitar classes a few years ago. He was out of work, living with his mum (!) and dabbling with the idea of taking acting classes. This is such a typical Uruguay anecdote. The joke here is that whereas the rest of the world’s population experiences six degrees of separation, in Uruguay the maximum number of degrees is two.

Best Uruguayan films – want to find out more?

5 Uruguayan films you must Some of Uruguay’s best films as selected by The Guru. You’ll see that Clever goes against the grain of the typical “slow-burning” Uruguayan cinema.

The Guru’Guay Guide to Montevideo includes synopses of 10 Uruguayan films specifically selected for people like yourself thinking of coming to visit, as well as albums to listen to and books to read before you come visit.