THE ROMANTIC BARBER
(El peluquero romántico, Iván Ávila Dueñas, Mexico/Brazil, 2016, 98 min. In Spanish and Portuguese with English subtitles)

New York Premiere

Neighborhood barber Victor’s life is rather uneventful. He sticks to a strict daily routine at both work and home, where he spends his nights alongside his mother listening to boleros or watching movies from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema on television. His routine is disrupted when his mother suddenly dies. His flirtation with a young waitress and his reunion with an old girlfriend can’t fill the void left behind by his mother. That changes, however, when a man claiming to be his father suddenly walks into the shop one day. The encounter will lead him to an unexpected and life-changing trip to Rio de Janeiro. The fifth feature by Mexican director Iván Ávila Dueñas, The Romantic Barber is a quirky and charming film about an anachronistic character in a vanishing environment.