25 Watts

Does stepping in dog turd bring you 24 hours of good luck, or bad? That's the kind of question debated by three slackers in this very funny portrait of aimless youth, winner of the prestigious Tiger Award at the 2001 Rotterdam International Film Festival. It's a Saturday morning in Montevideo, and Leche, Javi and Seba are still up from the night before, drinking beer and avoiding responsibility. The film follows these lazy compadres for 24 hours as they talk nonsense, encounter weird characters from the neighbourhood, and drift in a state of chronic boredom. The directors of this low-budget black-and-white flick are two Uruguayan buddies in their 20s who admit being influenced by Richard Linklater (Slacker), Kevin Smith (Clerks) and Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise). In spite of these precedents, audiences have been won over by the sly, goofy charms of 25 Watts, which one critic praised for being as unpretentious as a 25-watt light bulb.