assisted with Palo y hueso). The film's realist approach shows the influence of Sarquis' teacher Fernando Birri, who had won several international awards. The film featured music by Béla Bartók. Reception The film fell short of the director's ambition. It was submitted by Argentina for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but failed to be nominated. The film also failed to gain much attention in the Argentine cinemas. However, Sarquís' later film La muerte de Sebastián Arache (1977) was recognized as a major work based on the strength of its images and the poetic sense conveyed in the movie. Later reviewers have praised Palo y hueso. When it was presented at the Fribourg International Film Festival in 2001, a reviewer described it as "a very singular and personal work in the Argentinean panorama of that time. Austere sets, bare dialogues and a simple drama underline the tensions linking the three characters whose lack of perspective is perceptible". The reviewer went on to detect the influence of filmmakers such as Alain Robbe-Grillet or Marguerite Duras, but felt that the tight psychological characterization, disciplined acting and stark sets were more reminiscent of Kenji Mizoguchi or Satyajit Ray. References 1968 films 1960s Spanish-language films 1968 drama films Argentine drama films