25 Watts is a 2001 Uruguayan urban comedy drama film directed and written by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll. The independent film picture stars Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi, and Alfonso Tort. The film received a total of ten awards and three additional nominations, including Best Feature Film Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Best First Feature Film Award at the Havana Film Festival, and others.
Plot
The film covers 24 hours in the life of three youths in Montevideo. The story is about three young boys, Leche, Javi and Seba, trying to survive until Sunday. They have a lot of problems regarding studies, girls, and their lives consist mostly of drinking or sleeping or meeting strange people like the crazy delivery boy, a retarded drug addict, and a philosophical counter clerk at a video rental store.
Javi has landed a job driving a sound truck that plays the same radio spot for pasta all day long, while his buddy Leche, who is supposed to be studying for his exams, instead finds himself having sexual fantasies about his tutor, and Seba is waylaid by a handful of small-time dope dealers when all he wants to do is go home and watch the porno movie he's just rented.
Cast
Daniel Hendler as Leche
Jorge Temponi as Javi
Alfonso Tort as Seba
Valentín Rivero as Hernán, a blond friend
Walter Reyno as Don Héctor, Javi's boss
Damián Barrera as Joselo, Héctor's son
César Herrera as Neighbor in elevator
Judith Anaya as Leche's grandmother
Federico Veiroj as Gerardito
Valeria Mendieta as María
Silvio Sielsky as Pitufo, the Guinness records freak
Claudio Martínez as Kiwi, young man with ball
Teresita González as Neighbor with chair
Roberto Suárez as Gepetto, the pizza man
Gonzalo Eyherabide as Sandía, the video club owner
Robert More as Rulo, a junkie
Carolina Presno as Beatriz
Nacho Mendy as Chopo, Rulo's friend
Leo Trincabelli as Menchaca, Rulo's friend
Luis Villasante as Waiter
Marcelo Ramón as Bouncer
Daniel Mella as Lalo, Beatriz' boyfriend
Exhibition
The film first previewed at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands on January 28, 2001 but was not released fully in Uruguay until June 1.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Karlovy Vary Film Festiva, Czech Republic; the Helsinki International Film Festival, Finland; the Warsaw Film Festival, Poland; the Medellín de Película, Colombia; the Latin America Film Festival, Poland; and others.
Critical reception
Deborah Young, film critic for Variety magazine and reporting from the Rotterdam Film Festival, gave the film a mixed review and wrote, "A rare offering from Uruguay, 25 Watts dully portrays the dim lives of three teenage boys in a sleepy Montevideo neighborhood. With no story to tell, tyro co-directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll place far too much faith in hang-dog, Jim Jarmusch-style humor, emphasized by repetitious dialog, flat B&W lensing, and limited sets. Pic—which won one of the three Tiger Awards and the Youth Jury Prize at Rotterdam—lacks the spark of inspiration that would make this formula work, and most viewers are likely to run for cover well before the end."
Awards
Wins
Uruguayan Film Critics Association: UFCA Award, Best Uruguayan Film; 2001. Bogotá Film Festival: Honorable Mention, Juan Pablo Rebella; For focusing on the daily problems of today's youth; 2001. Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema: Best Actor, Daniel Hendler, Jorge Temponi and Alfonso Tort; FIPRESCI Prize, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll; For injecting humor, visual energy and delightful dialogue into the 'Slacker' movie formula; 2001. Cinema Jove - Valencia International Film Festival, Spain: Audience Award, Feature Film, Pablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella; Special Mention, Feature Film, Pablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella; 2001. Havana Film Festival: Coral, Best First Work, Pablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella; 2001. Lima Latin American Film Festival: Best Screenplay, Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll; 2001. Rotterdam International Film Festival: MovieZone Award, Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll; Tiger Award, Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll; 2001.
Nominations
Bogotá Film Festival: Golden Precolumbian Circle, Best Film, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll; 2001. Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema: Best Film, Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll; 2001. Gramado Film Festival, Brazil: Golden Kikito, Latin Film Competition - Best Film, Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll; 2001.