_Soñar, soñar_ is the underrated piece in Leonardo Favio's oeuvre. The overwhelming commercial and critical success of his previous film, _Nazareno Cruz y el lobo_ (1975), may have something to do with this. Though not as daring as his other works, _Soñar, soñar_ still has much to offer.
Mario (Gian Franco Pagliaro) and Carlos (professional boxer Carlos Monzón) meet by chance on the road. Mario is a wandering artist who immediately captivates the simple and sensitive Carlos with his outgoing personality. From that moment, Carlos' only dream will be to become an artist. A complex bond develops between the two men as they set out together to make their dream come true.
If Favio explored romantic relationships in most of his pictures (most notably in _El romance del Aniceto y la Francisca_ and in the Kafkaesque _El dependiente_), _Soñar, soñar_ is a study of what we may call--for the sake of simplicity--friendship, specifically, friendship between men. The film combines two genres that often go together, the buddy film and the road movie, while continuing Favio's tradition of rural settings and marginal characters. The focus on male characters pursuing the ghosts of fame and glory points to Favio's next movie, _Gatica, el mono_, which he was to make seventeen years later, in 1993.
The mise-en-scène is beautiful, if somewhat less exotic than that of _Nazareno Cruz y el lobo_. In this aspect, _Soñar, soñar_ also prefigures the detailed staging of _Gatica, el mono_. There is a particularly nice tracking shot depicting a long stage at a carnival. On the stage, twelve different acts take place at once, involving 52 artists (and three dogs), most of them in costume. And yes, I actually counted them.
I get the feeling that _Soñar, soñar_ would have gotten at least an Academy Award nomination if it had been selected as Argentina's official submission. (_Los muchachos de antes no usaban arsénico_ was submitted instead, and while it is a very good film, it did not receive a nomination.) After all, the theme of the bonds that unite males is prominent in US literature (from Herman Melville to Thomas Pynchon, through Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, etc.) and cinema (_Midnight Cowboy_, _Easy Rider_, _Two-Lane Blacktop_, _My Own Private Idaho_, etc.). There is, in fact, much of Steinbeck's excellent _Of Mice and Men_ (1937, with numerous film adaptations) in _Soñar, soñar_. The chemistry between the two protagonists is delightful. Mario is the leader, the active character, while Carlos is fragile and dependent. One is tempted to say that if Mario is Don Quixote, Carlos is Sancho Panza, but the analogy only goes so far.
While _Soñar, soñar_ is not Favio's masterpiece, it is nevertheless worthy of standing next to his other brilliant films. Its only major flaw may be its ending, and since that is the part of the film that echoes in the viewer's mind, this may account for the more modest appreciation it has received. To conclude, let me repeat the cliché: while this may be the director's weakest film, it is still much better than other filmmakers' best.
