Directed by: Ingrid Pokropek
Distributed by: Bendita Films
Written by Michael Clawson
60/100
A charming coming-of-age film with magical realist flourish, “The Major Tones” is the directorial debut of Ingrid Pokropek, whose sensibility is clearly informed by her background in production for El Pampero Cine, the Argentine film collective behind the thirteen-hour “La Flor” and last year’s “Trenque Lauquen.” Though it is more contained and modest in its ambitions than those films, “The Major Tones” exemplifies El Pampero’s reputation for stories that inflect the mundane with mystery and adventure, often through a labyrinthine vision of the world as a series of puzzles and enigmatic patterns. For the uninitiated, Pokropek’s film might serve as a pleasant, less daunting entry point into this distinctive mode of Argentine cinema.
At a younger age, Ana (Sofía Clausen, engaging and sweet) had a metal plate put in her arm after an accident. Now, at the age of fourteen, she begins to feel rhythmic pulsations through the plate, vibrations that don’t alarm her or cause pain, but that capture her attention with their unknown cause and significance. Adorably, her first instinct is to make music out of the plate’s tones with her friend Lepa (Lina Ziccarello, also adorable). But “The Heartbeat Song,” as they call their tune, isn’t exactly a major creative success. Ana happens to meet a young soldier, who identifies the vibrations as Morse code. But even unscrambled, the messages coming through the plate are like riddles that Ana can’t solve.
Could the signals be from aliens in distant space, as in a sci-fi movie that Ana watches? Could they be from Ana’s mother, trying to communicate with her daughter from beyond the grave? (“Don’t forget me,” reads one of the messages). Or are they simply random frequencies that could be eliminated with a replacement plate, as recommended by Ana’s doctor? The possibilities playfully come and go in a narrative that’s bright, mildly quirky, and enjoyably free of anything like serious conflict. In parallel to her efforts to understand the plate, Ana tries to make sense of matters that are more ordinary for a teenage girl, but no less confusing, like boys, friendship, and her artist father re-entering the dating field. Adolescence is a series of conundrums all their own.
Less than thrilling is the film’s visual aesthetic, which is consistently plain. Pokropek’s compositions are strictly functional, to the point that I don’t think a single image in the film made an impression on me. My attention also flagged whenever the narrative shifted its focus to Ana’s father, whose rekindling with an old flame is thinly realized. But when it’s tuned into Ana’s determination to untangle the mystery of the metal plate, “The Major Tones” is a breezy watch. If it lacks the heft and intricacy of certain Argentine film counterparts, it compensates with amiability.
“The Major Tones” Trailer
Michael Clawson is a member of the Seattle Film Critic Society you can follow his passion for film on Letterboxd.