Querido Tropico (2024) TIFF 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival 2024

In Panama a caregiver for the elderly takes a job working for a rich family in order to care for the matriarch who is slipping away with Alzheimer’s.

I am not going to lie an say we haven’t seen this story before. We have, but that’s okay. The reasons that it’s okay, actually much more than okay are the performances of the cast, particularly Paulina Garcia and Jenny Navarette who set this film way above most other films of this sort.  These are performances for the ages.

What makes this film work is that this is a film where the performances take what is said and amplify it. Sure we can see what is happening and the bond that forms between the women. However at the same time it’s the small things, the tiny gestures, the looks, a shift in posture or a change in walk that says so much. A late in the game thank you is crushing, not for what is said but for the welling up of tears in the eyes. Nothing is said but the depth of emotion damn near broke me.

If there is justice this film  will result in the leads winning many many awards.

This is as good as film acting gets.

Highly recommended.

Sister & Sister (2023) SXSW 2023

Two sisters travel from COsta Rica to Panama to try and find their missing dad and in between have an adventure, find romance and bond.

This is going to be a short piece. While I really liked this film and love the sense of reality in it (it is based on the director’s own experiences) the film never fully clicked with me. Blame it on my being a guy and my not having sisters. Yes I have two brothers by birth and another via another mother, but the relationship between guys is different than it is between women.

As I said above this is a good film, though I suspect that if you are a young woman and especially if you had sisters this film is going to be great.

Recommended

Panquiaco (2020) Neighboring Scenes 2021

This dreamlike narrative borders on being a documentary as we follow Cebaldo as he drifts from Portugal through the cities and wilds of Panama. 

As the film opens Cebaldo is living in Portugal where he works on a fishing boat. haunted by thoughts, images and sounds of home in Panama he decides to travel home.

Less a narrative than a portrait of one man and his feelings of home PANQUIACO sucks us in early as we wonder what we are seeing. Open matte images of indigenous people fill the screen. The film then shifts to Cebaldo and his life far from home. We watch him going through his paces and talking to friends and co-workers. Its an intriguing slice of life where his past is constantly calling to him.

I fell into PANQUIACO. I loved its dreamlike quality and gladly went along with its travel deep into the subconscious. I was carried along by its images and thoughtful probing of how we can never leave our past behind. I liked the film so much that when I finished the film I started it again  before heading off to my own dreams for the evening.

Recommended.