Entre Nos
This had a nice low-budget indie style with warm colours, I liked the look of it. It looked very real, and using mostly unknown actors added to the realism. It was almost a shock when Sarita Choudhury showed up and I recognised her
I liked the way the main character really tries to keep upbeat for the sake of her young daughter especially, and to retain dignity in the face of disaster after her useless husband abandons her and two kids in a foreign country. The lead actress did a could job with her bewildered face as she struggles. I did wonder why she didn’t ask anyone for help, though, maybe the church? When we do see her go to a church it’s in the middle of a particular crisis and she can’t summon up the courage to go in, which was quite an affecting moment.
At times it plays out a bit like Fortunately/Unfortunately. Every time something good happens, something bad happens. They collect lots of recycling, then they miss the collection. They get some money from the recycling, happy music plays, they come back to find themselves locked out of their apartment. Finally get a room…. well, spoilers. It gets a little wearing. It’s moving, but perhaps at times tries too hard to be moving, things seem a little deliberately placed. And everything seems fine in the end a little too quickly without really showing us how.
The scenes with phones are good. At first she’s pleading for him to answer, then shouting at him, then just putting the receiver down without saying anything.
It’s a small film in a lot of ways - short in length, narrow in scope. It doesn’t actually have much to say beyond how tough it is for these people and how they cope. But that’s a benefit, it doesn’t try to extrapolate, it’s a very personal film, and what we find out at the end tells us why.
I did find it interesting, it gripped my attention and I wanted to find out what happened to them and hoped it would work out for them. I had not heard of this film before this hall of fame and I’m glad I watched it.