Unhappily wedded working class couple María (Natalia Maldini) and Manuel (Casper Uncal) go spend the week around new year's eve with Manuel's sister Ana (Xiomara Martínez) and her rich husband Julio (Federico Aimetta). Class humor ensues, slowly curdling into mild horror as it becomes clear Ana and Julio are into... something weird.
That something is fairly wrong is clear as soon as Maria and Manuel make it to the beautiful country house, when they're introduced to a handful of very young, very servile "godsons" and "goddaughters". But that quickly becomes a secondary concern as their host's overbearingly paternalistic treatment comes to the fore; The film mines a lot of laughs from Ana and Julio's oblivious entitlement. Not that it lets Maria and Manuel off the hook: Manuel is an unimaginative, ambitionless dolt, and Maria a seething mess of bottled-up resentment and frustration.
Julio is some sort of self-help guru, and constantly berates our protagonists for not doing better, as if not being rich was a failure on their part; His way to help is to subject them to some hilariously inane aphorisms and parlor tricks to get them to think their way positively to success. It's a type of new-age-guru role that would be played too slickly in an American film, but feels more fresh and down to earth here. I'd be lying if I said I knew people like that back in Argentina, but I did knew some who were pretty close to it. His wife, Ana, is a more naturalistic character and a near perfect depiction of posh Buenos Aires gentry. Definitely met plenty of people like that.
They're both hilarious, and watching Manuel and Ana trying not to fly off the handle (they're trying to borrow money from them, you see) never gets old.
The film does take a turn towards the bizarre around the halfway mark, bringing the established cult-like aspects to the front and switching genres from observant social satire to something a bit more horror-adjacent. I don't like this second part as much as I did the first, but it still scored some belly laughs (Manuel's wide-eyed description of an epiphany might be the funniest thing I've seen in ages) and it does a respectable job of trotting out its chosen genre elements, which even include an arterial spray at one point. The final revelation is also a neat little darkly humorous sting.
Writer/director Jorge Pinarello's budget doesn't allow for many flourishes, but he incorporates many of his limitations - including a simple editing scheme - into the film's down-to-earth humour (the way a conversation cuts into the jacuzzi scene pictured above is a good example). Pacing is tight, with a host of good jokes, sight gags (Manuel's impassive frustration is never not funny), characterful moments and bits of weirdness sprinkled throughout. The script is fairly cartoony, but it's got teeth - there's a particular scene where Julio illustrates a point comparing a single glass of vintage absinthe to Manuel's monthly wages that's pretty savage.
The acting is superb. Martínez and Aimetta, as discussed, are great as the hosts; Uncal (whom I'd seen before in the excellent History of the Occult) seemed a bit amateurish to me at first, but he's undeniably funny, and there's a late twist that shows off his chops in a much more positive light; It's a good performance. The standout for me, though, was Maldini, who doesn't just get to be very funny, but also anchors the horror aspects of the movie by herself and remains a completely credible character, flawed and natural to the very end. Outstanding.
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