Cracks De NáCar (2011)

The first strange thing we're faced with is the title, which seems as if it was written in another language. "Crack" is an English word, already accepted by the Spanish Royal Academy, which means extraordinary skilled sportsman. And "nacre" is an organic-inorganic substance that is used, among other thing, to make buttons. Second strange thing: this is a film about buttons (the ones in clothing, but outside of it) that play soccer. Soccer with buttons? Yes, but the buttons doesn't move on their own; they are moved by Rómulo Berruti and Alfredo Serra, veteran journalists, long-time friends, eminent conversationalists (and whiskey drinkers) and passionate fans of soccer-playing buttons. Not any button is a crack, and so the chosen ones get personalized and named after players like Bordenave or Rojas. "Cracks de nácar" (Hot button players) is a film about a singular game, but also, and especially, is a placid, fluent portrait of a friendship based on the pleasure of a good anecdote, sharp conversations, a teasing view of the world, and the sophisticated intelligence of laughing at oneself, which is shared by Berruti, Serra and the film itself.