Alejo Moguillansky offered a beguiling fusion of dance theatre and film noir in Castro (LFF 2009); now he turns to comedy in this gentle, melancholic love story in which the film-within-a-film plotline is refracted through a dry, deadpan humour. A film crew are making a documentary on contemporary dance theatre in Argentina, with the sound recordist (El Loro – ‘The Parrot’ in English) caught in the midst of a messy break-up with his girlfriend, who has dumped him by letter. Loro begins to fall for one of the dancers in the film, only for her to disappear and leave him with a dilemma. Moguillanksy details the labour involved in the creative process with adept, playful energy, making The Parrot and the Swan not only a contemplation of dance on film but also a teasing romance where the object of desire is always somewhat out of the hapless Loro’s grasp.