North America

Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America

16

I Killed My Mother

I Killed My Mother Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

You haven’t heard of Xavier Dolan? He’s the young darling of the Cannes film festival, and he deserves all the praise he has got. He proves that you are never too young to start (he wrote this script when he was 16) just as Ridley Scott and Michael Haneke prove that you’re never too old to start (directing their first feature films at 40 and 47 respectively). So watch I Killed My Mother for a semi-autobiographical look at one of the brightest stars in the international film world.

Why Watch I Killed My Mother?
  • Watch the debut of one of the film industry’s brightest talents, Xavier Dolan. He’s only 27 year old!
  • For another dive into mother-son relationships (also watch his Cannes Jury Prize winner Mommy)
  • Just in case you didn’t think he was talented enough, Xavier also plays the protagonist in this semi-autobiographical drama
  • Get familiar with Francophone Canada!
The Breakdown

We love our mothers unknowingly and only realise how deep-rooted that love is at the ultimate separation.

First we see Hubert’s eyes, then his face, as he is being interviewed by the camera. He talks about his mother and says that he could be anybody’s son. A montage of fake butterflies and kitschy statues precede a slow motion shot of Hubert’s mum eating a cream cheese bagel. Hubert begrudgingly tells her to wipe some food off her face.

Next, Hubert’s mum is driving him to school. All we see is a front-on view of the two characters through the front wind-shield sitting in the front two seats. The scene proceeds as follows:

  • Hubert berates his mum for putting on her make-up while driving
  • Mum complains that Hubert never talks
  • Mum then turns up radio when she hears something of interest
  • Hubert hates the ‘news propaganda’ and shouts at her to turn it off
  • Mum doesn’t so Hubert puts in headphones
  • Mum asks why he never wants to talk any more

The first 10 minutes are a portrait of the difficulty of motherhood and the difficulty of adolescence. It is always a battle of very few words.

It is the moments away from his mother that we truly get to know Hubert. With his mother there is no sign of himself; his creativity, his homosexuality, his sophistication, and honesty. Instead, at home, stuck within his mother’s suffocating furnishing and poor fashion style, there is no room for him to be himself. This is shown when he returns home from a party on speed and urgently tells his mother that he has so much to say to her but not enough time or words to say it. In this moment we see that he wants to be understood by her, he wants to tell her everything, but he cannot. He, like many adolescents can never get back the openness of communication they had with their parents that they used to have during their childhood.

Conclusion

Xavier Dolan’s stylish debut feature is a testament of his talent (which has been justified at Cannes). Use of special features, like slow motion, montages, and intimate black and white interviews contribute to his style. He is an auteur (meaning he is a director with a distinguishable style) in a world where they are harder to come by. Do yourself a favour and check out this film, and then some more of his films (such as Mommy).

17

Black Mexicans – Pan African Film Festival 2020

In Black Mexicans, a fisherman splits his time between two women: his wife, Juana, and his lover Magdalena.

Neri, the fisherman, is an old Don Juan. He’s known in the community for his promiscuity, which doesn’t end with Juana and Magdalena. However, the film focuses on his two lovers and their two daughters of a similar age. Whilst Nero’s two families share similarities, they have different problems. Juana has Neri, but she’s dying from a terminal illness, whilst Magdalena lives waiting on Neri and the relationship with his wife to end. Magdalena isn’t hoping for Juana to die – she regularly donates blood and even offers her donating her liver to help her – but she does want clarity from her relationship with Neri so she can move on with her life.

The other difference between the two families is their wealth. Whilst neither family is wealthy, Magdalena at least has her health to continue earning money through her restaurant. She’s able to buy a new fridge, and isn’t too worried about Neri not being able to catch any fish. Her ability to earn money, also gives her daughter the freedom to do what she wants as she doesn’t have to help support the family. In contrast, Juana is too poorly to earn, and Neri can’t support them, so her daughter has to find work to keep them afloat. Juana’s daughter therefore doesn’t have the same freedoms as her step sister and resents her absent father more for it.

Black Mexicans is set along the picturesque Oaxaca coast within the Afro-Mexican community in Costa Chica. The remote and empty setting reflects the Afro-Mexican experience in Mexico. Just like Afro-Mexicans in Mexico, the setting is hidden away from the rest of Mexico. No one makes the effort to take the boat trip there, except for the rare pair of backpackers. There’s also no sign of any non-black Mexicans here, just as the Afro-Mexicans here are hidden away from the rest of Mexico. The empty beach chairs and beach restaurants show that people just don’t care about the Afro-Mexican community. It’s isolated enough to pretend it doesn’t exist and empty enough that it doesn’t attract any attention.

It’s no surprise then that the Juana’s daughters efforts to make a life for herself appear hopeless. Her father will always be promiscuous and forget about her, her mother is terminally ill, she’s in inescapable debt, and there’s no support from the government (as indicated when a highway policeman says she’s not Mexican on a rare trip outside the community). Without her mother she’s alone. Her hopelessness is expressed through her stoic expressions. She never smiles or frowns, and never appears disappointed or angry. She’s aware of the hopelessness of her situation and her inevitable prostitution to pay off her debts.

Black Mexicans is the first feature film that tries to depict the Afro-Mexican experience with an all Afro-Mexican cast. It does have its problems: some Afro-Mexicans have called out the stereotypical depictions and the ignorantly prejudiced comments of the director. However, separating the director from the film, Black Mexicans deserves credit for depicting a community invisible to the rest of Mexico. Well constructed images and storyline might remind you of Costa Rica’s Land of Ashes or Eve’s Bayou. It’s use of setting and the stoic character of Juana’s daughter highlight the lack of opportunity and support for the black community in Mexico and their exclusion from their Mexican identity.

18

Fausto – Immerse Yourself in a World of Wonder

Fausto Still

Fausto Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Fausto isn’t like the usual films you’re used to. There’s no main characters and there’s no narrative that you can follow. Instead, Fausto is a collection of mysterious stories and images; some might fill you with wonder and others might just drift through you. It’s all in the name of searching for something bigger than ourselves – nature, the universe, magic. 

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer
Next: Tabu, Serpentarius, Extraordinary Stories
Read The Full Review
19

The Crime of Father Amaro (Mexico) – Controversy in the Catholic Church

Crime of Father Amaro Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you love controversy with plenty of drama, check out The Crime of Father Amaro. It’s a full frontal attack on the Catholic Church in Mexico which many tried to ban. Whilst it’s not as damaging as Spotlight, it will remind you that all of us are human no matter what position we’re in.

Here’s a dramatic trailer for a dramatic film.

Why Watch Crime of Father Amaro?
  • It’s controversial – religious groups lobbied to ban it in Mexico but their attempts backfired as the publicity rocketed this film to success at the box office
  • To see Gabriel Garcia Bernal (famous for Y Tu Mama Tambien, No, Motorcycle Diaries and many more)
  • If you love a bit of melodrama
  • It was Oscar nominated for best foreign language picture
The Breakdown

The opening of the film deliberately leads us to sympathize with the young Father Amaro (Garcia Bernal). Firstly, he’s charitable. When the elderly man he sits next to on the bus is robbed, he reimburses him with his own money. Secondly, he appears friendly. The local kids run around him after he playfully grabs their football and he chills with the fellow pastors to watch football on TV. He has all the makings of a great guy. However, the melodrama slowly kicks to life as he begins to take advantage of one of the parish girls who is clearly infatuated with him.

There are plenty of omens that something is going to go wrong. Firstly,  you’ll notice that wherever Father Amaro is, the statues of the Saints and Jesus are always watching him. There’s a statue of Jesus that watches over him at home, from his bedside table. Furthermore, the director makes sure you notice each of the saints looking down at him whenever he is in the church by cutting to static shots of each one as he walks down the aisle. Nothing he does escapes from their view.

Secondly, the saints have a helper in a crazy old woman aptly named Dionisia after the Greek God Dionysus, the God of Wine, as well as ritual madness and religious ecstasy. It’s clear that Dionisia is both mad and madly religious. In addition, she also comparable to the witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She predicts the love affair between Father Amaro and Amelia.

The two omens (the Saints and Dionisia) are both critiques of Catholicism. Firstly, of all the sins that are committed in plain sight of the saints and then confessed the next day. And secondly, of how it is interpreted by the population (Dionisia has malformed dolls posing as Saints, and tries to exorcise her disabled neighbor).

Image result for crime of father amaro

Conclusion

The Crime of Father Amaro is another great controversial melodrama from Mexico. It attacks the Catholic Church it’s hypocrisies, so it’s not surprising that Catholic groups tried to ban it. Unfortunately for them, the controversy propelled it to become the biggest film in Mexico.

If you want even more religious controversy, check out Oscar winner Spotlight. However, if you want blatant provocation, check out the Mexican film Battle in Heaven. If you want to see some more great Mexican film, check out our Top Ten Mexican Films here.

 

20

Kings of Nowhere – Visit a Sinking Town the Residents Refuse to Leave

Kings of Nowhere Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Kings of Nowhere feels like it could be a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Venezuela. Instead of showing a small town on the lake that is being destroyed by sediment like in Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, the town in Kings of Nowhere has already been consumed by water. The handful of people that have refused to move live on limited resources at threat from local bandits. It doesn’t look like a town that will last much longer as it tries to survive without the support of the government and other communities.

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer, Rent on Vimeo, JustWatch
Next: Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, Fausto, Peace

The Breakdown

Kings of Nowhere starts with a man navigating a motor boat through a forest of dead tree trunks sticking out of the lake. A layer of mist sits on the lake, blocking our view of the shores or town. From the dead branches and mist, it feels like we’re being taken through a mythical underworld. Added to the clusters of half sunken buildings we see in the next scene and it’s apparent that this town isn’t one that should still be supporting human life. It has been almost completely consumed by the lake.

The director never reveals what happened to the town. Instead of hearing why it is the way it is and how people struggle to live in the town, the director allows the subjects to tell their own stories. Early on, a ferryman starts laughing as he recounts old happy memories of the town. Later, a middle aged couple talk about a sign from God which led them to start renovating the town church that had been forgotten when the people left the town. Both feel like they’re clinging onto a past that has disappeared instead of trying to start a new life elsewhere.

You also feel this in the tone of the documentary. The slow pace and lack of movement of the sequences embodies the desire of the characters to stay where they are. The languid shots of the town’s inhabitants also reveals their acceptance of the futility of life. The remaining residents lounge around, renovate churches without congregations, and boat across the lake to visit lost cows. All their actions seem pointless. Nothing they can do will bring back the town or attract new residents, which they seem to be aware of. Occupying the time they have left is all they can do to postpone the inevitable decay of the town.

Kings of Nowhere is a story of people refusing to die. Their town is the place where they’ve forged their lives and connection to their happy memories and past. Moving on would sever roots that have grown too strong and stiff. They show the stubbornness of people not willing to change at all costs – after all, home is home.

What to Watch Next

First of all you, should watch Once Upon a Time in Venezuela before or after watching Kings of Nowhere. Set in a town that is being slowly consumed by sediment from the lake, Once Upon a Time in Venezuela feels like it could be a prequel to Kings of Nowhere.

Or if you enjoy Mexican documentaries that drift through places listening to the inhabitants and their stories, check out Andrea Bussmann’s Fausto.

For more languid observational documentaries you should also check out Kazuhiro Soda’s Inland Sea and Peace.