The broad streaming market today offers opportunities to show itself not only to young acting talents in Latin America and the rest of the world, but also to other more established ones, many of whom we used to see on the big screen, in emblematic series and programs. TV, or even showing off on the stage of the theater.
An excellent example of this reality is the case of William Francella. The Argentine actor born in 1955 has just starred seven months ago in “Granizo”, a dramatic comedy in which he gives life to Miguel Flores, a historical and infallible ‘Man of the weather’, who from one moment to the next fails a forecast and, Due to the consequences of this mistake, the whole country is going to hell.
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Although the comedy had good comments and very sharp reviews, according to figures from the Netflix chain, at the time it managed to position itself as the most watched in Spanish speaking worldwide. The detail was not alien to Francella himself, who in a note we published days ago He was proud of the drag of the film directed by Marcos Carnevale.
The last quarter of 2022 brings Francella back to streaming, but no longer for a tape, but for a series of eleven episodes. Under the mantle of Star +, “The one in charge” tells the story of Eliseo, a doorman in a middle-class building in Buenos Aires who suddenly sees his existence disrupted when he finds out about a plan by some neighbors to build a swimming pool on the roof that he occupies. This would obviously lead to his dismissal and liquidation after “thirty years of uninterrupted service.”
The vertical growth of cities has meant that the figure of the doorman (as he is called in Peru) is often inseparable from community life. Although today there are management companies that offer different people to take care of, clean or repair any damage in buildings or condominiums, the ‘manager’ (as he is called in this series), for better or worse, is always familiar to us.
Visibly, Eliseo is a guy over fifty who equates his disheveled appearance (gray hair, a hunchback and a wide belly) with an impetus and desire to always do good. Most of the neighbors consider him important, they worry about him and even tell him about his day to day life. But, since not even families are perfect, there is also another group that sometimes finds him nosy, voyeur, in itself, “weird”.
There is a detail that could be minor for some, but that passes inexorably throughout the eleven episodes of “The one in charge”. Why would a man who should go enjoy his half million dollars saved in 30 years of work and the liquidation that, in addition, corresponds to him after being fired, prefer to continue working under the orders of others?
Although the Star+ series focuses on Francella and her skills as a versatile actor, it would be impossible to analyze a production of this type without the casting that accompanies the remembered Pablo Sandoval in the award-winning ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’. The first that jumps out at you, without a doubt, is Gabriel ‘Puma’ Goity, playing Matías Zambrano, president of the building, main promoter of the construction of the pool and, therefore, Eliseo’s natural enemy.
Goity, recognized for multiple roles on TV in his country, has built a formidable character. From the human point of view, we are facing a dark representative of the ‘bad wave’. As a neighbor, he does not tip “because he already complies with paying his taxes.” As a father, he scolds his son for “not doing his business before leaving home”, and as president of the condominium, he does not leave the doorman (manager) a moment of peace.
The tense bond between Eliseo and Zambrano leads us to unmissable moments. From looks that kill, to jokes in bad taste, through silences that say it all. The essence of this neighbor, a ‘son of a bitch’ lawyer (as Francella’s character calls him behind his back) could well serve even another series.
But since good and evil always coexist, Eliseo’s building also has noble characters. From Beba, interpreted with subtle sweetness by Pochi Ducasse, through Moro Anghileri, who gives life to the ‘nana’ Paola. In these two women, and also a series of secondary characters (such as two doormen from neighboring buildings) support our protagonist in his plan to convince as many owners as possible to reject the construction of the pool.
Leaning on a blackboard, Eliseo begins to write down one by one all the (possible) votes for and against such a damaging initiative. Throughout the eleven episodes of “the manageror”, we will witness how a candid doorman reveals his other facet, that of an old calculator capable of almost anything to avoid being evicted from what he has considered home for three decades.
Getting a new girlfriend for a neighbor’s son who has just been abandoned by his wife, ‘returning’ the apartment to an owner who lives far from the condominium and was harmed by an ‘invader’, ‘finding’ the (supposedly) lost cat of a neighbor are just some of the examples of what Eliseo does with amazing skill. But many of these ‘feats’ would not be possible without an element that collides with the verisimilitude that is sometimes demanded of these series: the building does not have video cameras.
Although at various times it is repeated that “we are in a building from the sixties”, assuming that a property with neighbors without economic problems does not have a film record of what happens in its corridors and common areas is not very convincing and sometimes even illogical . Only a circumstance like this allows Eliseo to act in the condominium as if it were ‘his farm’, desperate at times because the votes against the pool do not reach him and his dismissal looms imminent.
Although the detail is key, it does not end up being surpassed by the aforementioned. The cast (which also includes Martín Seefeld playing Beba’s false Spanish nephew and the famous Luis Brandoni playing the ‘invader’, among others) supports a large part of the proposal created by the famous directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. We are, therefore, before a series of 11 episodes of which, at least eight, certify it as an entertaining production, but above all well done. The latter, in the midst of a flurry of projects that streaming networks are testing in Latin America, not always with optimal results, is a point in favor of the Argentine industry.
THE MANAGER / STAR PLUS
Director: Mariano Cohn Gaston Duprat
Cast: Guillermo Francella, Gabriel Goity, Pochi Ducasse
Synopsis: ‘The manager’ is a dramatic comedy that narrates with irony and humor the adventures of Eliseo, who makes use and abuse of his surveillance power. The building where he works has specific dynamics that he manages to perfection, in addition to knowing everything about those who inhabit the place. Thus, Eliseo plays at being a god, manipulating according to his whims, encouragement or desire to impart justice.
Duration: 11 episodes
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