I'm Leaving Now

My husband and I watched it twice and we absolutely loved it. Amazing how sometimes we live in some sort of plastic bubble our own world that we forget the struggles and misfortune that some people have to go through on a daily basis.

A little cute documentary, but it has been beautifully shot and put together. It is very simple, minimalist yet heartwarming and a bit sad. Lovely piece of work.

"I'm Leaving Now/Ya me voy" (2018, Group Effort Films/MU Media, 74 mins., color, English/Spanish) co-directed by Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda and written by Josh Alexander and stars Felipe Hernández as the main protagonist, "Felipe". This film is centered on viewing the immigration narrative with its social and political implications.

Felipe is a Mexican immigrant living in Brooklyn, NY making money by collecting bottles from the streets to send his earnings to his family and saving money for his return to Guerrero, Mexico. This documentary explores not just the economical hardship, but the emotional strain of migratory experiences.

Felipe has to deal with his separation of family, especially with his youngest son (not seen for fifteen years). In a one scene, Felipe asks advice from a friend about the family separation, he says to have "sentimientos profundos" or "deep feelings" toward his missed son, he may see him now as a stranger.

This is part of continued themes and subjects for Mexico-born/Brooklyn-based filmmaker, Lindsey Cordero; her past documentary films had explored Mexican-American topics like "Chicano" lowriding.