Three Movies About Finding an Escape

Family can be complicated, especially when everyone is carrying more than they can handle. In this week’s featured article, Tiffany Vazquez explores how Fernando Eimbcke’s "Olmo" captures the love, frustration, humor, and responsibilities that can pull a family in different directions. It’s a coming-of-age story, but it’s also a thoughtful portrait of what it means to care for one another when everyone needs a little room to breathe.

We’re also highlighting two very different classics this week: Héctor Babenco’s "Kiss of the Spider Woman," now playing as part of a retrospective at the California Film Institute, and Juan Bustillo Oro’s "Dos Monjes," a restored version that's now available for streaming.

Happy Watching,

— Vanessa

This month, the California Film Institute is screening a retrospective of Héctor Babenco's movies to celebrate the work of the Argentine-born director who famously made Brazil his creative home. The program includes “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the 1985 classic based on the Manuel Puig novel about two men imprisoned together — one for his sexuality, and the other for his politics. They become closer when one of the men vividly describes movie plots, enabling them both to escape into worlds that blend reality and fantasy.

Playing at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, CA, on August 15.

“Dos monjes” (“Two Monks”) is a 1934 Mexican melodrama directed by Juan Bustillo Oro. Two monks, through flashbacks, each recount their side of an ill-fated story. You can see the aesthetic influences of German Expressionism in the film’s stark, haunting shadows and Dutch angles. It’s a privilege to be able to stream this stunning restoration, done by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project.

Streaming on HBO Max.

— By Tiffany Vazquez

Fernando Eimbcke, director of the critically acclaimed “Temporada de patos" (“Duck Season”) and “Club Sandwich,” has returned with “Olmo,” an excellent coming-of-age story about a teenage boy and his family in 1979 New Mexico. This movie, while seemingly small and specific, packs an incredible amount of heart and universal appeal, and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

The film takes place over the course of a day, during which we see Olmo (Aivan Uttapa) and his older sister Ana (Rosa Armendariz) bemoan the shared responsibility of caring for their father, Nestor (Gustavo Sánchez Parra), who has lost all limb function due to multiple sclerosis. Their mother Cecilia (Andrea Suárez Paz) is constantly working to make ends meet as the sole breadwinner of the Lopez household. Olmo, in the height of teenage rebellion, wants to attend a house party with his best friend Miguel (Diego Olmedo) to get closer to his crush, neighbor Nina (Melanie Frometa). Ana needs a break from Eldest Daughter™️ duties and was promised she could attend a party at the roller rink. Both siblings want to escape for a day, but Nestor needs around-the-clock care. Thus, tensions arise as each person understandably gets a little selfish in search of respite.

“Olmo” could have easily been a Latino take on a buddy coming-of-age comedy like “Superbad,” with its 70s aesthetics, following two teenage boys throughout the day as they do whatever it takes to attend a house party with hot girls, and that might have been enjoyable too. Instead, we get something much more layered, more personal, and more interesting in telling the generational differences of immigrant parents and their United States-born children trying to make a life in a small town where even the regularly passing cargo train won’t bother to stop; where a mother is overworked and under-loved, a father’s autonomy is stripped away, and kids don’t get to be kids.