No doubt about it, bad girls rule. Make them good-looking head-turners-name them Mao and Lenin-and now the interest of queer cineastes around the world is piqued. Let your film make about every unexpected turn in the book and shoot it in black and white. This will have folks wondering if it's the next Go Fish. If it is hip, queer film festival programmers will be banging your doors down. Winning the Silver Leopard at the prestigious Locarno International Film Festival can't hurt either. But when B. Ruby Rich compares your film to the early works of Fassbinder and Jim Jarmusch, everyone sits up and takes notice. That's exactly what happened to Suddenly, the feature debut for 26-year-old Argentine director Diego Lerman.

The 27th SFILGFF is proud to present Suddenly as one of this year's special presenta­tions. Despite the economic crisis in Argentina, there has been a remarkable renaissance in the nation's cinema. Critics have been wowed by films like La libertad and La ciénaga. Now you can add Suddenly to the list.

The film opens quietly in a small, claustrophobic lingerie shop in Buenos Aires. Life for chubby sales clerk Maria is mundane. Her work is tedious and she has few friends. There is no tango in Maria's life. Day-in and day-out, nothing changes. But one day two dyke punks, Mao and Lenin, accost her on the street. Mao (Carla Crespo) asks Maria if she wants to fuck. Maria yearns for love and passion, but the crass tough girl's come-on is less than desirable.

Mao and Lenin insist otherwise by blindfolding and kidnapping Maria at knifepoint. They then hijack a taxi and set off to fulfill Maria's secret desire to see the ocean for the first time. Slowly, the three women learn more about each other. From the ocean, they head almost aim­ lessly toward the provincial town of Rosario. They crash at the home of Lenin's aging aunt Blanca (Beatriz Thibaudin whose low voice and sexy performance is mesmerizing). Along with aunt Blanca and her housemates, the three young women find a new family.

The film plays like an emotional roller-coaster ride-one moment it's frightening, we're laughing the next at how ridiculous Mao and Lenin's shared tough-girl stance is. Finally, the vul­ nerability and tendernessthat lie just belowthe surface touches us. The sumptuous black-and­ white imagery by cinematographer Luciano Zito and Diego de Piano makes one long for the good '01 days before Technicolor became a part of a film's commercial release.