“Europe, She Loves” (2015)The stories are definitely engrossing albeit perhaps not really emotionally involving as most of these couples—except the lusful young couple from Seville—are a bit distant and cold to each other, even during sex. (The sex, by the way, are quite graphic and will not be surprised if the actors—especially the ones from Seville and Dublin—were doing it for real.)“La Influencia” (2007)But you can’t really say she’s doesn’t care for her children: upon learning that she got evicted the first thing she did was inexplicably go to the toy store and buy the kids presents regardless of her money troubles. It seems that she chooses momentary pleasures and diversions as the main remedy instead of coming up with a long-term plan. It was never explained where the father was nor if she has parents or siblings or even close relatives, in fact there’s never any explanation of her life prior to her current situation. She’s just living in her world, friendless, spending her days at the shop behind the counter reading magazines or sleeping. “After Lucia” (2012)But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about the film: after her mother dies in a car crash (the Lucia in the title), 17-year-old Alejandra (Tessa la Gonzalez Norvind) is uprooted by her chef father, Roberto (Hernan Mendoza) from the seaside town of Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City. They seem close, but on closer inspection their interactions are merely courteous chit-chat but no personal stories are ever exchanged, and I don't think they've ever talked about her mother's death. In school, Alejandra hang-out with the cool kids, and the kids look nice and normal enough, and eventually we learned that they mostly come from upper-middle-class household with absentee parents, and during a house party Alejandra impulsively have sex with one of the boys and lets him record it with his phone. After Lucia, the top winner in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, is directed by Michel Franco in a rather dispassionate manner: framing of scenes are mostly master shots, perhaps to show the distance between characters. It only gets closer when our protagonists are experiencing internal and external turmoil. Norvind leaves a lasting impression throughout and it’s hard to watch scenes of her getting bullied, her eyes vacant as kids forcefully stuffed her mouth with rancid cake. Heart-breaking as her sweetness, happiness, and sense of security in this world evaporates before our eyes.
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AuthorSahiri Loing
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December 2015
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