What do you get when you cross Of Mice and Men with The Wrestler and Meet John Doe, as helmed by Sergio Leone?

Well, you certainly don’t get Bad Day To Go Fishing, which under Uruguayan director Álvaro Brechner transcends the sum of the precedents that have informed the film’s conception.  Whatever you read about this film will almost certainly be cast in terms of what it’s like—and yet, when it comes to the viewing, you will equally certainly find it original and unpredictable, even as you tick off the familiar references to earlier films and cinematic stylings.

At its core, Bad Day To Go Fishing is the story of itinerant huckster Principe Orsini as he tours South America with former wrestling “champion” Jacob VanOppen, staging sham wrestling matches for an equally sham $1000 prize to the challenger.  Initially, as Jacob plays Lenny to Orsini’s George, and as the Spaghetti Western titles and backdrops whisk impatiently by in a style that invokes the brisker of the Coens’ films, it’s easy to read Orsini as a manipulator who’s bent on using Jacob up and throwing him away. 

But as the planned fix in backwater Santa Maria melts down and it appears that Jacob will face off in a potentially lethal match with a local madman, we gradually discover—through a lot of subtle camera work and quiet character moments rather than a flurry of subtitles—that Orsini and Jacob share a certain symbiosis and codependence.  In several doomed countermoves, Orsini attempts to flee town with Jacob before it is revealed that the Champ has no clothes, as it were.

I’m tempted to say that Scot-born Spaniard Gary Piquer anchors this film with his performance as Orsini.  But the real MVP here is Brechner himself with a remarkable feature film debut.  The Film Movement release on DVD features a couple of Brechner’s short films, which demonstrate that Brechner hasn’t exactly emerged from nowhere with this film; but I’m not sure the shorts really presage what we find here, either.

From production design to score, from performances to script, the film is practically flawless.  Even the flatter roles and weaker actors come to life in a context that allows them to flourish.  By the time we reach the tragically foreshadowed climax, we know far more about these characters than their words have conveyed—and we likely care more about them than we did in The Wrestler, No Country for Old Men, or Down By Law, celebrated films from celebrated directors that Fishing might invoke.

But the veteran actor Piquer really is a revelation in this role.  Also coproducer and co-writer, Piquer inhabits Orsini in a way that you’d expect from De Niro or Keitel in early Scorsese films.  I’m not sure I’d say the same thing if I’d seen any of Piquer’s earlier work—but frankly, I don’t care.  He may be playing a version of some prior character here, but I imagine this will likely be your first exposure to him, too.  And what a treat that will be.

I must also laud the score from relative newcomer Mikel Salas.  Delivering the most arresting soundtrack I’ve heard since the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Salas’ inventive scoring reminds me a great deal of the work that Ennio Morricone was doing in the 1960s.  The only thing missing in that regard is vocalists musically cast as instruments; but that’s fitting, as Salas isn’t writing for a mythic landscape of either Steinbeck’s Midwest or Leone’s West: he’s writing music for a mythos of the soul, of the bond between men who don’t know how to let go of either their dreams or each other.

I’m not consistently sold on Film Movement’s monthly releases; but I do admire the fact that their curators go for real cinematic art rather than that which satisfies a broad market.  And when your tag line is, “From the art house to your house,” you’d best be reaching.  When they connect with your personal sensibilities, they hook a lunker—and that makes for a very, very good day to go fishing.

Bad Day To Go Fishing is unrated; but I think this would probably get a PG from the MPAA.  The subject matter just isn’t very kid-friendly, and a lot of alcohol and tobacco are consumed.

Courtesy of Film Movement, Greg screened a promotional copy of Bad Day to Go Fishing.