A bitter-sweet comedy whose surreal poetic style and absurd humour call to mind the best of Aki Kaurismäki and Jim Jarmusch. For his tale of a young man who tries to find someone who could fix his car in the dust of the Yucatan desert, Fernando Eimbcke took away the Alfred Bauer prize from this year’s Berlinale.
The path we all have to travel in order to reach maturity and to reconcile ourselves with all aspects of life, including the death of those closest to us, can take many forms. Very few, however, are as absurd as the odyssey undertaken by 16-year-old Juan the moment he crashes the clapped-out family car in the middle of the Yucatan wilderness. He goes off in search of the necessary spare part and comes across increasingly more bizarre figures along the way: the taciturn car mechanic who almost implausibly resembles his dog, the punk girl who runs a delapidated car repair shop, and “The One Who Knows”, a teen mechanic who is more familiar with kung-fu films than with car engines. The surreal two-dimensionality of this film is reminiscent of the poetic style of Aki Kaurismäki and Jim Jarmusch – this is a world full of monosyllables, absurd humour, awkward hesitation and heady melancholy. Fernando Eimbcke’s Lake Tahoe deservedly took away the Alfred Bauer Award for innovation at this year’s Berlinale.
85 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Fernando Eimbcke
/ Screenplay Fernando Eimbcke, Paula Marcovitch
/ Dir. of Photography Alexis Zabé
/ Editor Mariana Rodríguez
/ Producer Christian Valdelievre, Jaime B. Ramos
/ Production Cinepantera
/ Cast Diego Cataño, Héctor Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara, Yemil Sefami
/ Contact Funny Balloons
Fernando Eimbcke (b. 1970, Mexico) completed his film studies at Mexico’s National University (1996) and was already winning important awards for his short films and music video clips while still a student. His feature debut Duck Season (Temporada de patos, 2004), however, caused a true sensation. This absurd comedy about two adolescent friends and one tedious Sunday afternoon was screened at the festivals in Cannes, Karlovy Vary and Toronto; apart from festival awards, the film also took away eleven Ariels, the annual prize presented by the Mexican Film Academy.
Funny Balloons
4 bis rue Saint Sauveur, 75002, Paris
France
Phone: +33 140 130 586
Fax: +33 142 333 499
E-mail: [email protected]
First-hand brews throughout the year.
Be among the first to learn about upcoming events and other news. We only send the newsletter when we have something to say.
