Music On Hold

Film composer Ezequiel has writer’s block but a very strict deadline - he has just days to submit a sublime score for a movie. The bank is also on his back about loan repayments or they will repossess his house and - to really kick him when he is down - his estranged girlfriend has a new lover.

But the bank may prove to be his salvation as well as the wolf at the door - one of the many tunes they use as hold music has a melody that would be ideal for the movie. He needs to hear the music again, but various bungled attempts during a visit to the bank end in disaster.

While on his elusive hunt for the harmony, he encounters bank sub-manager Paula, who is fretting over the impending arrival of her mother from Spain. Paula is heavily pregnant and her mom is visiting to meet the father, but she does not know he left months ago.

When she turns up at Paula’s office unexpectedly, Paula grabs Ezequiel and pretends he is her boyfriend Santiago - and the desperate musician agrees to play along with the charade for the duration of her mom’s visit in exchange for access to all of the bank’s hold music. But as they spend time together, will romance blossom for real?

It’s not an original scenario but Music On Hold’s charm is in its characters and humour, not its plot. Director Hernan A Golfrid develops every situation slowly to ensure our protagonists have depth, are likeable and sympathetic.

Diego Peretti, as Ezekiel, may be lacking in looks but he makes up for charisma and comedy, while the beautiful Natalia Oreiro is perfect as the independent yet flustered Paula.

There is plenty of humour throughout the movie as the couple’s lie is almost exposed and the characters are wonderfully eccentric, notably a pair of bumbling bank security guards and Paula’s boss.