La Tigra = The Tigress is a sleepy little town in Argentina's Chaco Province, 250km from the boundary with Paraguay. It extends for 20 blocks along a main highway and has a population of just a few thousand. The movie opens as Esteban, a local boy now in his twenties is alighting from a truck that he hitchhiked to La Tigra (presumably, there is no bus service). He is visiting after a six year sojourn in Buenos Aires; he left after his parents' breakup. Esteban's ostensible purpose is to reconnect with his father, Cacho, who is a truck driver presently on a journey. Faced with a wait, he stays with his elderly aunt Candelaria. He meets his father's new wife Claudia and his half brothers, pre-teenager Alejandro and Luciano, a baby. He also meets Vero, whom he last saw as a girl and has blossomed into a dazzling, charismatic young woman who is taking the first tentative steps towards her dream, studying medicine.
Life flows evenly and uneventfully in La Tigra. The heat is tolerable in the morning but becomes oppressive by noon and makes the afternoon siesta imperative. Streets are deserted until early evening. The young play soccer. Women do their daily shopping (on credit, as customary on small towns), old ladies gather to play cards and gossip. There is a rock band that caters to the young and Saturday night dances (mostly for the mature but with many young in attendance) where local musicians play folk dance tunes such as the lively chamamé. Tereré is consumed at all times. It is a drink similar to mate, sipped from a gourd with a bombilla (metal straw) but unlike mate it is prepared with cold water. The gourd is passed from person to person as a socializing ritual.
Out of this seemingly trivial, everyday material directors Federico Godfrid and Juan Sasiaín have woven a hauntingly beautiful movie, one that will enthrall you from beginning to end. Acting is first rate, both from professionals (Ezequiel Tronconi, playing Esteban and Guadalupe Docampo, playing Vero) and from the rest of the cast, La Tigra locals that count this movie as their only credit.
