Léalo en español
When a film begins with a real-life Secretary of the Economy announcing 100% inflation within the next 24 hours, and ends with the phrase “God help us,” it is a bad omen. Happily Reinas, Klaudia Reynecke’s third film, doesn’t fulfill that prophecy: it’s a good film that confirms the presence of a voice full of personality in Latin American cinema. After its bow in international competition at Sundance, it will be screened in the Generations section of the upcoming Berlinale.
“Reinas” (literally, Queens) is the affectionate term that Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), a divorced and absent father, uses for his daughters, the teenager Aurora (Luana Vega Sousa) and ten-year-old Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic). In Peru in the early 1990s — with the Shining Path guerrilla group constantly attacking and an economy in crisis — the sisters are about to leave Lima to move with their mother Elena (Jimena Lindo) to Minnesota. They go in search of a better life according to Elena, to die of boredom according to Aurora, or simply to move away from him, according to Carlos. In the three weeks before their departure, they stay with their grandmother (Susi Sánchez), an eccentric and strong-willed woman who hates Carlos.
Klaudia Reynicke was born and spent her childhood in Lima before emigrating with her family to Switzerland and the United States, experiences that turn Reinas into a realistic film. Her previous works Il Nido and Love Me Tender have received recognition at international festivals.
Politics and the consequences of living in a country in crisis are constants in the daily life of the family, but very little is said about them. At the time the action takes place, Lima was a city with a curfew but also with beaches, bartering, dancing, and fun. Both girls move in a bubble, protected by their mother and grandmother. They’re more concerned with first love and social life than with politics, which they discuss less than the ghost of an aunt who was “really flirtatious and died of love.”
But it is Carlos, the father, who is at the center of the story. He swings from being a disengaged, absentee father to a charming and loving dad. He can stop the trip to the United States if he does not sign the permit for his daughters to leave the country, but does he want to deny them a peaceful life? Perhaps the most significant coming-of-age story in the film is not that of the girls but of Carlos. For him, life in a city with car bombs is not interesting enough: he must be on the site of the explosion, his life saved by chance. He has a thousand anecdotes and the scars to prove them. The screenplay, written by Reynicke and Diego Vega, gives the audience 40 minutes of running time (maybe to get attached to the character?) before showing us which side of the law he and his sympathies are on. It is intriguing to figure out if he is a secret agent, terrorist, police officer, or just a taxi driver telling tall tales.
Reynicke is a skillful director, but her greatest virtue is subtlety. She makes the camera move nervously when Carlos is in line for an exit permit, a pivotal scene but one that does not allow movement. She directs an established actress like Susi Sánchez, the winner of two Goya awards, so that she is omnipresent but not overwhelming. Maybe the use of the iconic Peruvian song “La flor de la canela” is too obvious, but it is the logical choice at a farewell party serving the local cocktail pisco sour.
Production designer Susana Torres resurrects the Lima of the early 1990s with nostalgia and realism, while costume designer Fernando Velazco makes canny use of the prints of the time, each one too busy; when the family gathers together, the stridency of their outfits highlights their dysfunctionality.
Director: Klaudia Reynicke
Screenplay: Klaudia Reynicke, Diego Vega
Cast: Gonzalo Molina, Jimena Lindo, Susi Sánchez, Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega
Producers: Britta Rindelaub, Thomas Reichlin, Daniel Vega, Diego Vega, Valérie Delpierre
Cinematography: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos
Editing: Paola Freddi, Francesco de Matteis
Sound: Carlos Ibáñez Diaz
Production companies: Alva Film (Suiza), Inicia Films, (España) – Maretazo Cine (Perù)
International sales: The Yellow Affair
Venue: Sundance Film Festival
In Spanish
104 minutes
