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Waterberry Tears (English/Spanish)

By Golu
This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
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Feriado (Spanish) [Holiday]

By Golu
Yay!! another first film from a new country. A coming-out gay film, there is nothing much new to this film honestly but what I admire about the film is the fact that someone in the country dared to make a film that even touches upon the gay aspect and treats it sensitively rather than making  mockery of it.

Set in 1999, when one of the worst financial crisis hit Ecuador, W meet the shy teenager Juan Pablo who has come to spend his carnival holidays to his family house in the mountains of Ecuador. We find out that’s uncle, whose house he is staying at, is a banker who is locked up because of the bank scandal. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop the family especially the kids to enjoy their vacation. Juan Pablo is constantly bullied by his cousins and he finally finds excitement through a chance encounter with Juano, a thief, when Juan Pablo saves him from his uncle’s escape while stealing tyre covers in the carnival party. The crew of the film then focuses on there growing friendship and the silent fun moments they share. Their socio-political differences are nevr mentioned and are never an issue. Clearly Juan Pablo is completely in awe of Juano, who in turn thinks of him as a friend. One night after a crazy party, the 2 boys do end up kissing passionately, but Juano finally runs away. Before heading back to his home after his vacation ends, Juan Pablo goes to meet Juano for one final time and says goodbye.

I think the screenplay of the film was quite weak. A lot more drama, excitement could have been built up. The actors playing the two main pats were quite good but were in control of the undercooked screenplay of the film. Their passion was not so much real but Juan Pablo’s silent glances towards Juano with a mixture of curiosity, sensuality portrayed his vulnerability and his desires. The whole fading banking scenario was all in the background and didn’t really add anything substantial to the story. Even the ending wasn’t anything ground-breaking or special. Finally Juan Pablo confides in a friend that he may like guys, so as a viewer, I am just left with just a shrug as a reaction

In short, this film is a simple story of a teenager coming to terms with his sexuality on his holiday. Nothing out of the world but not bad either. (4.5/10)
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Comments

ILHiker said…
I took a break from rewatching for this movie last night. It was among the Central American Spanish language movies I had located for a trip, originally thought for Ecuador but now for Peru. I agree with the review and did enjoy it, mainly thanks to the two main characters. I found Juan Pablo's story arc interesting in that he never did either the stereotypical acts of wallowing in victimhood from having to sort-of spend time with his unpleasant male cousins, nor did he evoke any over-emotional reactions to gradually coming out to himself. The setting of the country, the stream and the city were all lovely--it seemed as though the director or cinematographer were very fond of the area. I found the accents easier to understand than, say, Argentina or Chile for me, which helps with my Spanish listening practice. I looked for more gay-themed films from either the director or actors, but no such luck.
August 5, 2022 at 6:24 AM
Golu said…
I feel that the director is not really known for gay centric films. Even with this film, if you see deeply, its more about socio-political statement that he is trying to make and doing it through a gay character was a interesting arc to throw in.
August 7, 2022 at 1:05 PM
ILHiker said…
That actually makes a lot more sense than how I was thinking it. Thank you for sharing.
August 8, 2022 at 6:53 PM
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