LAS TRES SISTERS
(director: Mar Novo; screenwriters: Marta Cross, Youssef Delara, Valeria Maldonado, Virginia Novello; cinematographer: Ivahn Aguilar Naim; editor: Youssef Delara; music: Ryan Cross; cast: Virginia Novello (Sofia), Marta Cross (Maria), Valeria Maldonado (Lucia), Laura Patalano (Guadalupe, grandmother), Adam Mayfield (Harold Jacobs), Cristo Fernandez (Kin), Maya Zapata (Teresa), Gonzalo Garcia Vicanco (Manuel Lopez), Pilar Ixquic Mata (Paty); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Denisse Prieto, Marta Cross, Valeria Maldonado, Virginia Novello; CM Films/Myriad Pictures; 2025-USA/Mexico-in mostly English & some Spanish)
“Earnest inspirational family dramedy that’s set in rural Mexico.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The Los Angeles based Mexican filmmaker Mar Novo (“Mar i Ana”) directs this earnest inspirational family dramedy that’s set in rural Mexico. It’s written by Marta Cross, Youssef Delara, Valeria Maldonado, and Virginia Novello.
Three estranged and argumentative Mexican-American sisters living in different locales, Maria (Marta Cross), Lucia (Valeria Maldonado) and Sofia (Virginia Novello), all in their 30s, reunite to go on a traditional pilgrimage to Mexico’s Talpa de Allende, a religious site, to honor their deceased grandmother (Laura Patalano) who introduced them to this tradition when they were children.
The tolerant homemaker from Houston, Maria, is the eldest. She has a great marriage with her devoted husband Harold Jacobs (Adam Mayfield). But Maria is living with two medical problems. One a secret even her husband doesn’t know about, and the other is kept from her sisters.
Sofia is the only sister fluent in Spanish. She’s the alcoholic, free-spirited, unmarried middle sister, who lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The youngest sister is the conservative Los Angeles lawyer, Lucia, who lives with the sister’s wheelchair-bound mother Paty (Pilar Ixquic Mata) and is her caretaker (she resents her sisters for not helping out with the nursing).
The travelers stay on this pilgrimage path for six days. On the journey they meet various people that include an introvert, the widower botanist Kin (Cristo Fernandez), who takes a shine to Lucia, and an extrovert rancher Manuel Lopez (Gonzalo Garcia Vicanco), who takes a shine to Sofia.
The travelers are fed for free by the friendly locals they meet on the trail and view several notable landmarks. At the pilgrimage’s end the faithful travelers hope for a miracle, which is the case for one of the sisters with the medical needs.
The message here is try to get along with your family, try to live a good life and maybe if you keep the faith a miracle will happen.
I’m not sold on the movie’s idea of a religious pilgrimage as an answer to one’s prayers, but I do believe that good things can happen to those who “Do the right thing.”
REVIEWED ON 3/10/2025 GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com