‘Olmo’ Review: Plan B’s Splendid Coming-Of-Age Story Of Mexican-American Family Comes At The Right Time — Berlin Film Festival
At its heart, Olmo is a simple story about immigrants, coming of age, growing up, taking responsibility, love, friendship, a stereo, a barbecue, roller skates, and above all, family.
The latest from director Fernando Eimbcke (Duck Season, Club Sandwich) is not inherently political at all, but this beautifully written and acted period film set in 1979 New Mexico is coming at a perilous time for immigrant families in America, and so it is hard to watch and not get angry at the way their lives are being upended. However, that is not what this one is actually about.
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This is the story of just one family, particulary the 14-year old boy, Olmo (Aivan Uttapa). He is much like other kids his age in a Mexican-American family. The parents speak Spanish, Olmo and his friends speak English. His sister Ana (Rosa Armendariz) is obsessed with roller-skating and hanging at the local rink in this struggling town. His mother Cecilia (Andrea Suarez Paz) is the breadwinner and is worried about how they will pay the rent. His father Nestor (Gustavo Sanchez Parra) is stricken with debilitating Multiple Scerlosis, unable to get out of bed, go to the bathroom by himself, and needing 24/7 care, something neither his sister or especially him is very comfortable doing. Besides, Olmo is also having a bit of a sexual awakening, and he and his good friend Miguel (Diego Olmedo) have been invited to a party by the object of his desire and fantasies, Nina (Melanie Frometa). With the promise they will bring his family stereo, this is something they don’t want to miss.
Unfortunately, the reality of having a father in dire need of medical help and a mother depending on the kids to step up, Olmo can’t just be like any other kid. It doesn’t help that Nestor is cranky and demanding, a man sadly very much diminished. Olmo is being stretched thin and finally takes matters into his own hands, goes out and fixes his mother’s broken down car, is joined by Miguel on a joy ride before delivering on his promise for the stereo at Nina’s party, where the boys put on a show with their best John Travolta dance impression to the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. Then his big moment to get it on with Nina comes crashing down when he has to get back home only to find Nestor has been taken to the hospital when a neighbor heard him writhing in pain. Olmo should have been there. He’s in trouble. Plus, he left the stereo behind.
Eimbcke, working from a finely tuned screenplay he wrote with Vanesa Garnica, is not reinventing the wheel of coming-of-age tales, but focusing his camera, simply and without melodrama, on a family that might seem familiar to anyone. This one lives in a bit of a dead-end town — the roller rink a star attraction — and puts a human face on them. They are just getting by, but there is joy along with heartache in this clan. Eimbcke can thank this superb cast led by Uttapa, who not only has the perfect look but also wonderfully underplays Olmo. Parra is excellent in his bedridden role as a man who can no longer help himself, but somewhere deep inside, still can love his family. Paz is terrific, a woman with everything thrown at her while trying to keep her family together. Olmedo is also a real find as Miguel, a kid who can steal scenes just standing there. Carolina Costa’s cinematography captures time and place with purity and authenticity.
Producers are Plan B and Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, whose Oscar winning films include Moonlight, and it is no accident Olmo compares favorably to a film like that one, a movie that asks empathy for people who don’t always get attention. In these dark times, here is a film that shines a light and becomes urgent, even necessary, by simply providing a window into the humanity of a single family, one in many ways that is universal. Olmo gives us hope and lifts the heart.
Title: Olmo
Festival: Berlin Film Festival (Panorama)
Sales Agent: CAA Media Finance (North America); Film Constellation (International)
Director: Fernando Eimbcke
Screenplay: Fernando Eimbcke & Vanesa Garnica.
Cast: Aivan Uttapa, Gustavo Sanchez Parra, Andrea Suarez Paz, Rosa Armendariz, Diego Olmedo, Melanie Frometa
Running Time: 1 hr, 24 min
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