Review of “El Amor después del Amor”: Netflix Appeals to the Rock Nostalgia of Fito Páez

On April 26, Netflix premiered on its platform "El Amor Después del Amor," a series about Fito Páez that has quickly become a trend. The production comprises eight chapters with an average duration of 40 minutes under the direction of Felipe Gómez and Gonzalo Tobal.

The cast stands out for being very young and is led by the rookie figure of Iván Hochman, who plays Fito Paez. Other rock celebrities portrayed in the series are Charly García by Andy Chongo, Fabiana Cantilo by Micaela Riera, Luis Spinetta by Julián Kartun, and Andrés Calamaro by Javier Morado.

What is the Series About?

As one of the most important icons of Latin American rock, a biopic about Fito Paez was necessary. It is done under the pretext of the three decades of his album "El Amor Después del Amor," which premiered in 1992. The series tells in parallel the atmosphere of what it meant to bet on art in a time of tyranny.

"El Amor después del Amor" focuses on the first 30 years of Fito Paez. His childhood is loosely explored through 'flashbacks.' His adolescence is portrayed during the political turmoil and his adulthood with his entry into the music industry.

These stages are always being crossed by musical creation and resistance: as a child, his father did not want him to be a musician; as a teenager to the dictatorship regime; and as an adult, he searched for identity and pressure from his teacher Charly García.

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The Netflix Formula for the Success of the Series

Nostalgia sells, and Netflix knows it. For this reason, a series on the life and work of Fito Páez was a safe bet. The moment he gives people something to discuss is also perfect as advertising input for the singer's tour with "El Amor Después del Amor."

Addressing the figure of Fito and his place in Latin rock is complex. Sometimes he gets lost among musicians before him, like Charly García and Luis Spinetta, and his contemporaries, like Gustavo Cerati and Andrés Calamaro. However, the series avoids playing that game and proposes a more open angle that captures a deeper end.

That end has been the rock. The series is the history of rock with Fito as a pretext. It can be read as an appendix to the documentary series "Break Everything: The History of Rock in Latin America." What happened in Argentina with rock in the late 80's and early 90's? That ends up being "El Amor Después del Amor" as a production.

The political resonance, like an extended trailer for “Argentina, 1985”, is reflected in the first half of the first chapter. Later this component is set aside, and Fito Páez begins to be explored his childhood. The first chapters function as a search for the cause of some traumas, but with the focus on making music, in how the figure of Charly guides him roughly, and how he transcends from the back seat to take the wheel in the music industry.

To say that "El Amor después del Amor" ends up being a series about the life and work of Fito Páez is unfair, especially when the beginning and end round of a story is at the beginning of his success. After 1993 there was a lot of rock and Fito Paez, but it seems the latter does not have enough power to be exploited on the screen.

The viewer will probably want more, perhaps not more from Fito Paez, but more from Charly García. Her arrogant and diva figure makes the viewer want to know and explore this character more. The public is left with a greater desire for Latin American rock, and Netflix will undoubtedly give them that pleasure if the mentioned artists allow it.