The truth is out there – but it’s not strictly reliable in extra-terrestrially fanciful media satire . Competing in San Sebastian, the latest feature from Argentinian writer-director Diego Lerman ( , ) follows a notorious real-life episode in the career of the late José de Zer, a popular journalist and TV reporter. Musing on questions of imagination, reality and the status of truth in the pre-digital media world, this whimsical Netflix dramedy is a distinct departure from the tougher realism of Lerman’s previous film .
While Argentinian viewers might beam nostalgically at the references, the wider world is likely to respond with a shrug – except for Spain and other territories where lead Leonardo Sbaraglia is a draw. Argentinian actor Sbaraglia – whose recent European collaborations include Olivier Assayas’s and Almodóvar’s – appears with bleached hair as de Zer who, when the story begins in 1986, is an entertainment reporter for a Buenos Aires TV channel. He is first seen making a backstage visit to Monica (Monica Ayos), a middle-aged showgirl and chatshow host who is also his occasional lover.
He later collapses while filming her – apparently having sighted a mysterious flash in the sky – and experiences a flashback to a vision he received in the Sinai Desert while engaged in the Six Day War. On waking in hospital, José is approached by a mining company executive who wants him to report on alleged UFO activity in the mountain town of La Candelaria,.
