We are used to a flat cinema. That cinema where a common story is the key with conventional elements (like a commercial novel): introduction, middle and end. Good guys and bad guys, losers and enthusiasts, fools and crazy, cops and thieves, frustrated and frustrating clash in scripts that make them win or lose according to the interests of the industry.
“Rescue Distance”, by the Peruvian Claudia Llosa (“Madeinusa”, “The scared tit”), violates these parameters and goes to the subtle, to symbologies and mysteries to introduce the viewer into the problem of motherhood from different angles: overprotection and freedom. And it also refers to the issue of ecology and the damage of agricultural fertilization.
A voiceover triggers two stories: that of an intoxicated minor and a vacationer girl. That voice provides segmented data that, throughout the film, portend us the danger of assuming questionable behaviors, due to the environmental damage caused by folly.
Claudia Llosa knows how to attend to the technical details to put together a respectable work: the script, the camera (in its various shots and sequences), the frames, the soundtrack, the setting and locations.
It is a cheap cinema, but intense. Very human.
The casting knew how to choose. The protagonists María Valverde (Spain) and Dolores Fonsi (Argentina) sparkle from their dialogues, glances, secrets and silences.
A pity that the end is more (predictable) leaves an ephemeral solution in the air. But that is Claudia Llosa’s cinema and it deserves respect.
This Netflix premiere will have something to talk about. It takes a lot.
Data sheet
Country: Spain-Argentina-Peru. Year: 2021. Duration: 95 minutes. Director: Claudia Llosa. Screenplay: Samanta Schweblin (author of the novel of the same title) and Claudia Llosa. Cast: María Valverde, Dolores Fonzi, Germán Palacios, Guillermo Pfening, Emilio Vodanovich, Guillermina Sorribes, Marcelo Michinaux and Cristina Banegas. Synopsis: A mother and her little daughter arrive at a summer house. Along with animals, wheat plantations and supernatural visions, a human conflict turns into a danger that the mother is not in a position to understand.
Source-listindiario.com