Film & TV

Hola Mexico Film Festival Review: Después de Lucía (After Lucia)

Después de Lucía (After Lucia) centres around the lives of chef Roberto and his teenage daughter following the death of his wife. The mind-numbingly senseless accident that caused her death was terrible, but what happens subsequently makes that event look like a very merry Christmas…

 

after-luciaDespués de Lucía (After Lucia) centres around the lives of chef Roberto (Hernán Mendoza) and his teenage daughter Alejandra (Tessa Ia) following the death of their wife/mother. The mind-numbingly senseless accident that caused her death was terrible, but what happens subsequently makes that event look like a very merry Christmas. The pair move towns for a new start to escape their grief, but encounter something quite different, and not in a good way.

Screenplay writer and Director Michel Franco uses static camera shots and long uncut scenes to craftily depict this grim tale, with a not-so-new-anymore type of bullying at its centre. We can only watch helplessly as the characters become unstuck, then unhinged. Mendoza and Ia make this transition utterly believable, and their performances are as convincing as their characters are frightening.

The absence of music and sparse dialogue both contribute to the starkness of this film. With this, Franco contrives a distance between the audience and characters, insisting the viewing of the story be replaced with adulterated voyeurism, taking us to some places I would frankly have preferred not to go (all the while begging for someone to turn on some lights with more wattage).

As depicted in so many other modern-day bullying tales, social media was not made the faceless patsy of this story. After Lucia deals with consequences of actions of human beings, not their technology, and as such the story of bullying from a wound up mob, Lord of the Flies style, is not a new one.

If you dissect the specific cause and effect however, there’s a newish angle in this film. As such, if you have children who own mobiles, see this film if for no other reason than to reassure yourself this isn’t the crowd your child parties with.

Warning: steel yourself; this is not easy viewing.

After Lucia is a layered cake of endless tragedies, worsening with each act. It is uncompromisingly brutal with side lashings of shame, anger, fear, anguish and pity. It is a harrowing watch; more than difficult, especially if you are a parent or a person who has ever run with a crowd without thinking for yourself.

In Spanish with English subtitles, After Lucia won the Cannes 2012 Un Certain Regard award. At times, the pace is protracted, but rewards eventually with a surprising ending that will leave you with a better understanding of the word ‘bleak’.

Después de Lucía (After Lucia) screens at the Mercury Cinema on Sunday 1 December at 6:15pm, and Saturday 7 December at 8:30pm as part of the Hola Mexico Film Festival.

Reviewed by Gordon Forester

Rating out of 10:  7

The Hola Mexico Film Festival runs 29 November to 8 December 2013 exclusively at the Mercury Cinema.

 

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