Uruguayan Masculinities in Álvaro Brechner’s Buddy Films Mal día para pescar and Mr Kaplan

Abstract

Abstract In less than ten years, Álvaro Brechner made three films that garnered numerous awards and invitations to film festivals around the world. In this article, I analyse Mal día para pescar (2009) and Mr Kaplan (2014) as ‘buddy films’ in which the stamina and values of older men are put to the test. I suggest that what unites the buddies in these films is their difference, which complements their loss of power due to due to their age. The aging characters in these films face the choice of either being heroic or losing their moral values.