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Review: Nobody’s Watching (2017) ★★★½

Nobody's Watching (2017)

&NewLine;<p>New York City is the place where dreams are made&period; At least&comma; it’s supposed to be&period; For years&comma; artists and dreamers have touted NYC as a place of limitless opportunities&period; This optimistic outlook might work out for some&comma; but for many&comma; the Big Apple is the place where dreams go to die&period; In Julia Solomonoff’s <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B077XJY645&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B077XJY645&amp&semi;linkId&equals;3730895c03fc26180645b0081307e037" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Nobody’s Watching<&sol;a><&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar; or <em>Nadie Nos Mira<&sol;em>&comma; an Argentine actor tries his luck in New York City&comma; only to face constant roadblocks and disappointment&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Guillermo Pfening stars as Nico&comma; a recent Argentine expatriate who had a promising career in his home country&period; However&comma; after a bad breakup with his lover and mentor&comma; Martín &lpar;Pascal Yen-Pfister&rpar;&comma; Nico moves to New York to advance his career&period; Unfortunately&comma; with few friends and no real connections in the industry&comma; Nico struggles to get work&period; To make ends meet&comma; Nico works as a male nanny for his friend and fellow Argentine immigrant&comma; Andrea &lpar;Elena Roger&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Much like the protagonist in Ana Asensio’s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2020&sol;07&sol;08&sol;most-beautiful-island-2017&sol;"><em>Most Beautiful Island<&sol;em><&sol;a> &lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; Nico is an immigrant who struggles to fit into American culture&period; Like Asensio&&num;8217&semi;s heroine&comma; he also must work menial&comma; under-the-table jobs just to make ends meet&period; Nico could always turn back and resume his success in Argentina&comma; but he chooses to persevere&period; With no desire to return as a failure or go back to the man who broke his heart&comma; Nico lives in self-exile and does everything in his power to be a successful actor in the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It goes without saying that <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> &lpar;<em>Nadie Nos Mira<&sol;em>&rpar; is not altogether original&period; As far back as John Schlesinger’s <em>Midnight Cowboy <&sol;em>&lpar;1969&rpar; — and probably farther — filmmakers have explored the difficulties of desperate actors trying to make it in New York City&period; However&comma; Julia Solomonoff gives the story a uniquely Argentine flavor&comma; looking at the vast differences between American and Argentine culture&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Like all the films mentioned above&comma; <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> forces the viewer to see the American experience from a realistic vantage point&period; In an ultra-competitive capitalist society&comma; bills must be paid&comma; deadlines must be met&comma; and opportunities must be grabbed — or else&period; There’s no room for error&comma; which means that the people with the least have the most to lose&period; As an immigrant with little money and few friends in the country&comma; Nico is always one step away from disaster&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;08&sol;MV5BMGVlNjE1YWQtYTAxMS00MWFhLTk3NWQtMDVmNjM5YTZhZWM5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzM5MTcwNTU&commat;&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SY1000&lowbar;CR0014981000&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-1024x562&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Nobody's Watching &lpar;2017&rpar;" class&equals;"wp-image-2043"&sol;><figcaption><em>Nobody&&num;8217&semi;s Watching<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The frustrating part about <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> is Nico’s ability to change his circumstances&period; He could return to a promising career in Argentina&comma; but he chooses not do so&period; Why&quest; Partly to retain his sense of personal freedom&semi; partly to avoid falling back into the arms of the man who wronged him&period; You’re inclined to sympathize with Nico&comma; but you can’t help but find his reasoning a tad childish&period; When you consider his financial issues and difficulties finding success in New York&comma; you can’t help but wonder why he tries so hard to make things work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In any case&comma; Julia Solomonoff’s script is engaging and the performances all work well&comma; but she doesn’t take any risks&period; <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> checks all the right boxes for its genre&period; However&comma; you might forget about it one or two months after you see it&period; This might be a rather unfair criticism&period; There’s very little wrong with the film&period; It simply doesn&&num;8217&semi;t stand out from all the other &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;struggling actor trying to make it in the big city” movies&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>That said&comma; it is a very well-made and engaging film&period; You feel for Nico and want to see him succeed&period; It becomes stressful to see someone fall on their face over and over again&period; All the while&comma; Nico tries to pretend as if everything is ok&comma; for the sake of his own pride&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>This is perhaps the most uniquely Argentine aspect of the film&period; Argentinians&comma; as a group&comma; are very proud people — almost to a fault&period; I don’t want to stereotype&comma; but as someone who has lived among Argentinians for years&comma; I have some insight on the matter&period; I can say without hesitation that confidence and pride are not in short supply in the Argentine culture&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The pride&comma; confidence&comma; and — at times — the arrogance of Argentine culture is an important part of Nico’s character&period; It’s not just that he wants to succeed&semi; it’s that he’s mortified of admitting defeat or losing face in any way&period; To return to Argentina is to admit that he made a mistake&period; To admit that he made a mistake is to be a fool&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Julia Solomonoff’s <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar; is not an inspiring film&comma; but it is very well-made&period; It only falls short insofar as it is a story that&comma; by and large&comma; has been told before&period; However&comma; if you are a fan of Argentine cinema or tense dramas&comma; <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> is a great watch &lpar;pun intended&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you’d like to watch <em>Nobody’s Watching<&sol;em> &lpar;2017&rpar;&comma; the full movie is currently available to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B077XJY645&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B077XJY645&amp&semi;linkId&equals;3730895c03fc26180645b0081307e037" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">stream&comma; rent&comma; or purchase via Amazon<&sol;a>&period; For more film reviews like this one&comma; consult the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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