TANTA AGUA (SO MUCH WATER) (director/writer: Ana Guevara/Leticia Jorge; cinematographer: Maria Jose Secco; editors: Yibran Assaud/Ana Guevara/Leticia Jorge; music: Maximiliano Angelieri; cast: Nestor Guzzini (Alberto), Malu Chouza (Lucia), Joaquin Castiglioni (Federico), Sofia Azambuya (Madelón), Pedro Duarte (Santiago), Andres Zunini (Diego), Romina Rocca (Receptionist), Valentino Muffolini (Miguel Ángel); Runtime: 102; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Fernando Epstein/Agustina Chiarino; Film Movement; 2013-Uruguay/Mexico/Netherlands/Germany-in Spanish with English subtitles)
“A poignant and well-observed family drama.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The first-time feature film directors, the Uruguayan writer-director team of Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, present a poignant and well-observed family drama coming-of-age film. It’s a film that intentionally sets a mood of boredom until it reaches its climax and then it fills in all the blanks the filmmakers attribute to a postmodern family trying to find common ground when together briefly for a parent/child divorce visitation.
Divorced Montevideo father Alfredo (Nestor Guzzini) takes his two children, the moody 14-year-old Lucia (Malu Chouza) and the childish 10-year-old Federico (Joaquin Castiglioni), by car for a short holiday to a hot springs in Salto. Due to the recent rains, everything is closed and the bored kids as a last resort find other children their age to play with at the resort while dad squeezes in a fast fling with the resort receptionist (Romina Rocca). The focus of the story is on the boy conscious Lu, who meets a faster friend, Madelón (Sofia Azambuya), who attracts the hot boy Santiago (Pedro Duarte) she wanted to be with. Santiago dumps his cousin Diego (Andres Zunin) on Lu, while he romances the girlfriend. The point of the film is how Lucia’s romantic misadventure and Federico’s bike accident, bring the loving father closer to his estranged kids better than if everything was sunny.
It’s a small movie, where little happens. But there’s enough drama to keep you tuned into its humanistic and unpretentious family story.
REVIEWED ON 5/7/2014 GRADE: B
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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