La caja

In the Mexico of un undefined era in the nineties or 2000 the movie leaves the spectators puzzling on what is the reality. Fatherhood or illusion.

2021 thriller drama film directed by Venezuelan filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas. It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival and as a Venezuelan nominee for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

About Rotten Tomatoes "A perfectly disturbing film, The Box tackles its delicate themes with wit and empathy." The movie he commented on was bought by The Match Factory / Mubi.

The film, which is still running at festivals, is broadcast in Turkey via Mubi in 4K.

The desert, which is the theme of the movie, is actually the desert of emotions that cause our hero to go on a journey.

It is the void of a son collecting the remains of his supposedly deceased father, one of many unnamed dead buried in mass graves in Mexico...

Hatzin Navarrete, the leading actress, gives an excellent acting performance in the movie, which makes you feel the proverb "Death is in life, life is in death."

The film initially grabs you with its air of mystery, all the things it hasn't told you about what's happened in the past. And then it sucks you into a story in the present, a criminal education, and a wonderfully ambiguous relationship between the boy and his new employer. But what does the boy really make of it all?

It's fast moving, engaging, often surprising, but never opaque. What holds you, apart from a magnetic central performance, is the style: every shot seems to containing meaning, and edited to the very bare bones.

The director made an earlier film, From Afar, that was also powerfully cinematic; this is its equal.

This movie is an interesting movie about a kid who goes from Mexico City to the US border to pick up his father's remains. But then the kid spots a man whom the kid is sure is his father, still alive. Soon the kid is sucked into being part of the dark exploitation machine that surrounds the big factories in Mexico bordering the US.

Unfortunately, in its last quarter, the movie loses its focus and becomes much less engaging. Also, while the actors get the job done, they don't provide the value-added depth that fine actors can bring to a movie. Where's Demian Bichir when you need him?

Worth considering if the topic appeals to you.

Smart, clever multilayered story that keeps you guessing about the relationship of the two main characters. Particularly good is Hatzin Navarrete giving a mostly intense and internalized performance as the young man we follow trying to reconcile his daddy issues. As the film plays against a backdrop of the injustice of cheap labor workers, the central tension builds to a powerful and thoughtful climax.

Venezuela's submission for this year's 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Very much worth a watch. Recommended. Sadly, venezuela seems to have lost this great auteur...........