65th San Francisco Film Festival
Cine Latino Competition
April 21—May 1
From the Andes Mountains’ rural highlands to crowded Brazilian streets, the Cine Latino program showcases the diverse textures and cinematographic excellence of Latin American storytelling.
LO INVISIBLE
(Javier Andrade, Ecuador/France, 2021, 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
In her opulent home in the Ecuadorian countryside, Luisa (Anahi Hoeneisen) sinks further and further into a forlorn state brought on by a bout with postpartum depression. Luisa strives to return to her notion of normalcy, taking long solitary jogs and socializing at luxurious dinner parties over a glass of wine. But dysphoric tendencies begin to take hold and create a fissure between herself and the life she once knew. In Lo Invisible, director Javier Andrade captures Hoeneisen’s magnetic performance as Luisa, articulating the new mother’s turbulent dissolution with a striking degree of restraint, while allowing a keen focus on nonverbal dialogue and quietly composed moments to speak volumes on the complexity of a frequently misunderstood and unseen crisis.
MARS ONE
(Marte Um, Gabriel Martins, Brazil, 2022, 115 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
This charming and humorous film centers on the Martin family, a dynamic unit who meet the shifting politics of modern-day Brazil with grit and determination. Featuring four vibrant characters — the matriarch Tércia, who struggles to move past a shocking experience; her husband Wellington, a man of appetites and futebol superfan, who spends his days caring for the middle class with indefatigable loyalty; their bookish son Deivinho, who obligingly absorbs his father’s athletic ambitions while harboring a secret desire to colonize Mars; and Eunice, a young woman discovering her sexual identity — this tender film is a delightful portrait of a bombastic clan who dare to dream. Tensions flare and disaster looms but this ensemble of strivers finds strength in one another. Tenderly woven together by writer-director Gabriel Martins with a keen eye for the authentic minutiae of daily life, Mars One will nourish your soul.
Friday, April 22, 8:45pm at Roxie Theater; and Saturday, April 23, 7:45pm at Berkeley Art Museum
PRIVATE DESERT
(Deserto Privado, Aly Muritiba, Brazil, 2021, 121 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles)
Facing brutality charges and overwhelmed by the demands of his dementia-stricken father, disgraced policeman Daniel (a brilliant Antonio Saboia) seeks escape from his troubles. He takes an ill-timed road trip to track down his internet love, Sara. But she is only a face or a sext on a screen and the flesh-and-blood reality shocks Daniel to his core, forcing him to confront who he really is for the first time in his life. The winner of the BNL People’s Choice Award at the Venice Film Festival, Aly Muritiba’s stunning, erotic melodrama forcefully portrays a man coming to the realization that the toxic masculinity that has long defined him is nothing but an ill-fitting mask.
SUN & DAUGHTER
A film by Catalina Razzini
(Cuidando al sol, Bolivia/Spain/Germany, 2021, 84 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Ten-year-old Lucía lives with her parents and sister at Lake Titicaca in the Bolivian mountains. When her father leaves the family to take a job in La Paz, Lucía imagines a mythical place where he awaits her arrival. Slowly, she combines memories of her absent parent with stories she hears from tourists visiting her village, whimsically changing all aspects of her life as she prepares to reunite with her father. As her scheming solidifies, she befriends a young boy to assist with her dramatic plans. With Sun & Daughter, Bolivian Italian first-time director Catalina Razzini creates a dreamy story of the power of a child’s imagination and the love between a parent and a child.
THE BOX
(La caja, Lorenzo Vigas, Mexico/USA, 2021, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Teenage Hatzin (Hatzin Navarrete) travels through the visually stunning landscape of Chihuahua, Mexico, to collect his father’s remains but his life changes forever when he meets Mario (Hernán Mendoza), a local factory promoter. What begins as a short trip to help his grandmother becomes a dangerous journey into the shady world of industrial factories as Hatzin becomes involved with Mario’s unsavory business. Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas (From Afar, Festival 2016) intricately unravels this coming-of-age drama and elicits from his cast powerful, nuanced performances. The slow-burn relationship between Hatzín and Mario serves as a striking social commentary about corruption while also revealing a deeply personal family secret.
THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE
(El empleado y el patrón, Manolo Nieto, 2021, Uruguay/Argentina/Brazil/France, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
As the title suggests, this slow-burning drama depicts parallel lives and how the dynamics of money and power play out in the wake of tragedy. On an Uruguayan farm close to the Brazilian border, the owner’s son Rodrigo is put in charge of daily operations. He hires teenage tractor driver Carlos, promising sponsorship in an upcoming horse race in return for starting work immediately. Both young men are new fathers, and the film deftly explores the imbalances in the two households. When a calamity strikes, the stakes are raised and the tenuous friendship between Rodrigo and Carlos evolves into a darker portrait of rivalry and economic disparity.
THE COW WHO SANG ABOUT THE FUTURE
(Francisca Alegría, La vaca que cantó una canción hacia el futuro, Chile/France/USA/Germany, 2022, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
Long-dead matriarch Magdalena emerges from deep in the waters of Chile’s Cruces River, seemingly called forward by Mother Nature herself. As she walks past dead fish washed up along the riverbank, it is unclear whether Magdalena’s return is a sign or a warning. At once poignant and surprising, director Francisca Alegría’s debut feature creates a stunning magical realist tale of familial legacy and loss, set against a backdrop of environmental decline. As Magdalena arrives at her family’s dairy farm and makes herself known, the frictions that tear at the family and the land she once knew become clear.
