Interrupted long takes serve as bookends to our story. What appears to be a police interrogation room is in actuality a television studio. It’s been ten years since Nancy’s (Roxana Campos) daughter’s passing, and as many desperate souls are conditioned to do, she turns to TV as a remedy to life’s problems. After being mistaken for another auditioner, the chain-smoking cosmetologist and mother of three steps in for a chance to have her eldest daughter’s brutal murder outside a gay club dramatically re-enacted for millions of viewers. The curtain shot finds Nancy on set and ready for her close-up (with a little help from her observant sister). For his knockout debut feature, writer-director Ignacio Juricic unspools his family melodrama in long languorous takes, observed from a distance. Privacy is at a premium, and with so many characters living their lives in such small spaces, one is seldom seen alone, even in the bathroom. Without a close-up to be found, Juricic’s image formation ricochets with a kind of depth generally reserved for a beautician’s mirror. (2018) — Scott Marks
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