Cinequest Film Reviews: Ochentaisiete and La Vida Después

Ochentaisiete

The film Ochentaisiete (Eighty Seven, Spanish with English subtitles) is a dramatic coming-of-age story in the mold of films like Stand by Me, or Boyz n the Hood in the sense that Ochentaisiete deals with youth growing up with troubled lives during a troubled time in Ecuador.

The story is set in 1987 during a period in Ecuador known as the “lost decade” because of economic turmoil and hyperinflation due to the collapse of their main source of wealth, the oil industry, severe natural disasters, violent political events including the death of one President and the kidnapping of another, war with border nations, student unrest, labor strikes, guerrilla activity and military suppression of social movements.

But the film pushes these events into the background, alluding only briefly to them and instead focuses on the lives of three boyhood friends and the problems with their respective families. Their camaraderie is one day infiltrated by a girl who becomes a love interest for two of the friends.

The story flashes forward and back and we come to see the children as adults whose lives were suddenly changed forever one night while driving recklessly in one of their father’s car. Tragedy strikes in the split of a second forcing one of the boys to flee and not return until 15 years later.

The film by directors Anahi Hoeneisen and Daniel Andrade plays both as a straight forward story of misguided youthful decisions and their consequences but can also be viewed as an allegory of Ecuador’s troubled decade and a society still trying to come to grips with unimaginable events.

Film screenings are Mar 5 at 9pm and Mar 7 at 9:30pm.

La Vida Después

Filmed in the Mexican desert state of Sonora, La Vida Después (The Life After, Spanish with English subtitles) is the story of teenage brothers who respond differently to the sudden disappearance, for reasons unknown, of their mother who we come to learn suffers from mental illness.

The story unfolds during an outing to the Gulf of California where Rodrigo and younger brother Samuel, still children at the time, are enjoying a day at the beach with their young single mom. Upon returning to their hometown they learn that their grandfather has passed away from suicide. The unexpected tragedy leaves their mom emotionally spent as she cries uncontrollably in the lap of young Rodrigo.

The story leaps forward to the present, the boys now teens with quite different personalities, Samuel hopeful and caring, Rodrigo recalcitrant and indifferent, together they go on a road trip to Cananea, a mining city near the border of Arizona, to learn what became of their mother. Along the journey they lose their car, all their money that she had left them, and test the depth of their relationship as brothers.

In one scene Samuel sees a birthmark on the back of his mother that is similar to a birthmark he spots on his older brother. The audience is left to wonder the significance of it; perhaps it is indication of the son, Rodrigo, fated for the same outcome as their mom who Samuel eventually finds to his regret.

Director David Pablos’ first feature film (from Mexico’s national film school Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica) centers on the theme of familial bonds, on the love-hate relationship between siblings and ultimately on the expectations, obligations they are presumably meant to create but can fragilely break at any time.

Film screenings are Mar 5 at 9:45pm and Mar 7 at 12pm.

Most films are shown up to three times during the festival’s run giving filmgoers the flexibility to attend one of the screenings. For tickets and detailed coverage of the festival’s schedule of events visit their site for the most updated information: http://www.cinequest.org/