Daniel Berman is a new Argentine film icon and is now one of the author director and showrunners of Argentine’s leading experts/television series, filming the new series “Good So far” (“Elrest Bien”). Created by Berman, he re-teams him with 2004 “Lost Embrace” star Daniel Hendler.
Hendler and Burman will co-direct eight 30-minute episodes of all the series. Produced by Uruguay HQ-Ed Cimarrón (“Barrabrava”, “A Ravaging Wind”) and of Ficina Burman of Argentina (“Victoria Small”, “Yosi, The Rectionful Spy”).
Oficina Burman and Cimarrón are producing “very good so far” for Argentine cable TV, internet and SVOD operator Flow. Flow has acquired Latin American distribution rights. Mediapro Studio owns other world rights.
Many of Berman’s films are autobiographical, exploring issues of identity with subtle family relationships and distinctive warm irony, seeking emotional punches.
Now, in the middle of filming in Uruguay and Paraguay, “so far, good” is perhaps the most autobiographical of Berman’s work.
His alter ego Ariel (Benjamin Vicuña, “Lock Up”), a successful cartoonist, is at risk of emotional burnout as if he is trapped in the world of his creation. Given the pressing needs of five children and the constant attention needed by his parents, and considering he is already on the crisis of physical and emotional disruption, he has been told by the doctor that he has a hernia and should not lift more than 3 kilos.
“This limit is a cartoon and causes a journey, a place where Ariel has to discover what he really worries about in life. Can he restore his own freedom or be crushed by his own reality?” The summary ends with asking.
Ariel’s crisis is his own, and Byman tells Variety, calling it “good so far” and “human drama,” and asks “a midlife crisis of a man of his own, “When do you have time for me?”” and that moment
He added: “In recent years, we haven’t dealt with too many things about what is happening to men about themselves or focusing on women and partners.
The series leads are Vicuña, Violeta Urtizberea (“Las Estrellas”), Rita Cortese (“Wild Tales”) and Martín Seefeld (“Pretenders”). Guest artists take Andrea Frigerio (“prominent citizen”), Alejandro Awada (“Yoshi, a repentant spy”) and Marina Belati (“Envious”). The series is written by Berman and his frequent recent collaborators Ariel Grevich (“transmitzvah”), Andre Jeros and Pablo Geros (“Malicious”) and Eloi Berman.
Variety chatted with Berman briefly about his new series:
All films and TV series are to some extent autobiographical. “So far, so far” seems perhaps your most obvious autobiographical job to date…
This is conscious. Sometimes you tell the stories you need to tell and tell others that you need to be told in other stories. I was in the moment I was going through, middle-aged – I was 52 years old and was looking for a story for you to establish a dialogue with your child’s father and your parents’ father’s father. No sense of victims. I have started a family. That’s great. But the time you have for yourself is a little rest after the father and son. And it gets smaller and smaller.
In the series, Ariel also suffers from a hernia.
Yes, your body starts to fail and you have the feeling that there are years to do everything you have never done. Your body will start to abandon you, but the rest is your responsibility, much of which is self-imposed. Often we use them to escape real responsibility.
Isn’t this a bigger masculine trait?
Yes: That’s a certain aspect of men. How we are fascinated by conquering the empire, our little micro cosmos to go out to conquer the world and escape from our own world. How to go to Waterloose to stand up to your own family. Again, it is treated without a sense of accusation. I’m not dismantling masculinity enough to build it because it’s not yet built.
“So far, very good” works with people I’ve worked with before. Is it just a coincidence?
It’s not a coincidence. Rather, it’s like a party with friends. During the filming, you can look around and see people who want to hug or drink coffee. Daniel Hendler is one case. We started working with “The Lost Embrace” over 20 years ago. I was impressed that he will become a director. He’s a little younger, but also deals with the same middle-aged issues. I have worked with many screenwriters for “Yoshi, Regret Spy” and “Madelizations.” It’s a very pleasant series, and has been made to connect and invite not only male perspectives but other perspectives: how children and parents view us.
Was this your first collaboration with Flow?
Yes, I really enjoy working with them. They also gave me absolute creative freedom. They are the perfect partners in this project. I have now collaborated with Cimarrón on several titles. Mediapro Studio is like a family that brings each project to your cousin, uncle, or siblings. We really work like family. Cimarrón is a sister company. I live in Buenos Aires, and every time I shoot I move to Montevid. It’s like a second home.
