Martin (Lupi) is a divorced Argentine filmmaker transplanted to Madrid. Back in Buenos Aires, his family, including 19-year-old son Martin Hache (Botto), isn’t faring so well. Feeling alienated at home, the youth accidentally overdoses at a club; Martin is then enlisted to bring “Hache” (translated as “Junior”) to Spain and straighten him out. Back in Madrid, the elder Martin is aloof and irritable to most everyone, resenting this new distraction from his tidy life and work. Thus it falls mainly to his younger girlfriend Alicia (Roth) and actor friend Dante (Poncela) to get Junior acclimated. Still, Martin’s self-absorption could ultimately blow up in his face.

Director Aristrain’s meditation on displacement and isolation is at once intelligent, incisive, and deeply felt. The always reliable Luppi is superb here in a largely unsympathetic role, and Roth breaks your heart as his lonely, vulnerable, drug-addled mistress. Though some may complain of too much talk and too little action, it seems like perceptive, adult character studies are fast becoming an endangered species in film these days, and so should be celebrated. If you agree, introduce yourself to “Martin.”