In New York, a journalist named Vincent Parisi (Robert De Niro... yes, you read that right), looks at the camera and describes "one of my best friends", a man he almost never sees and with whom he perhaps talks phone once. or twice a year. “His name is Manuel Tamayo Prats (Louis Brandoni) and he is a real dandy.”
Manuel is a writer and food critic in Buenos Aires, and for the last 40 years, his housekeeper Celsa (María Rosa Fugazot) has kept his life running smoothly. And given how picky he is about everything, well, that's not an easy task. He may notice her, for example, when she uses a different oil to make her French toast in the morning, and gently tells her that it must be the hard-to-get oil that she usually has.
Stars: Robert De Niro, Luis Brandoni, Silvia Kutika
When she goes to a restaurant for one of her reviews, she tries everything and in her mind she already has the slings and arrows ready for her. He receives petty cash from Celsa to tip the waiters when the owner inevitably sees him and prepares his food.
During lunch, his editor stops by for coffee and tells Manuel that he hasn't seen even half a page of the book he promised his late father three years earlier. Manuel makes some lofty excuses, but the editor tells him in no uncertain terms that he has two months to give him something or he will have to return the advance.
One problem: he already spent that money. In fact, he's almost broke. To maintain his lifestyle, he has been selling his art. When he invites friends over for dinner, his art dealer friend tries to tell him that he has very little left worth selling, except for one piece that Manuel refuses to part with.
After the meticulously prepared dinner that Celsa prepared according to Manuel's instructions, he wakes up late the next morning and discovers something that will change his life.
De Niro's name is being mentioned as the star of Nada, and that's understandable, although we're wondering why Bobby D. decided to make his entrance to television in a smaller role in an Argentine comedy-drama. But the star of the show is actually Brandoni as Manuel, who finds himself needing to rebuild his life after Celsa leaves and has to hire a young Paraguayan woman named Antonia (Majo Cabrera) to help him manage his life. .
Brandoni is a grumpy delight as Manuel. Despite his increasingly dire financial situation, he is so entrenched in his current life that he refuses to make any changes. Of course, that means that as things fall apart around him, his ability to adapt is at best ridiculous and at worst dangerous to his health.
The series' soundtrack gives the show a lived-in feel, with the casual-sounding jazz making jazz shows like Only Murders In The Building seem frenetic by comparison. But Nada is certainly a show whose music and the city in which it takes place are almost as central to the series as its characters.
De Niro's role is not just a brief cameo, but until the final episode, he primarily acts as narrator, defining the colloquialism in each episode's title and describing life in Buenos Aires (which closely resembles life in Nueva York). Is he making a great acting effort during those narrations? Not precisely; In fact, he looks as if he's reading on a teleprompter. But we're looking forward to the final episode, when Vincent visits his friend in Buenos Aires for the first time in what will probably be a long time.
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