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En Tu Auscencia (Review)

Taking place in a small village somewhere in a foreign country, like most foreign films start out. Starring Gonzalo Sanchez Salas as a 13-year-old boy by the name of Pablo who often keeps to himself, as shown in the first few minutes of the film where he runs for a few minutes. And runs, and runs, and runs. And then makes it to a cliff spot somewhere where he can, well, enjoy the view.

Eventually Pablo makes it back to his small house where he lives with his mother and they have dinner. One of the disadvantages of watching this was the fact that nobody bothered to add subtitles so I had no idea what they were talking about. Eventually, Pablo’s only friend Julia arrives for a short visit and she and Pablo head out for a little walk together. Julia is a prime example of the average teen girl who doesn’t care. Doesn’t care about appearance. Her pants sag and her shirt doesn’t quite fit.

One day as Pablo is sitting in a meadow, he notices a car coming into the area. He rushes over to the driver, who just so happens to be a man named Paco. Pablo is uncomfortable at first about Paco as he seems more interested in Pablo and at first, Pablo’s dog then he seems to care about the fact that his car isn’t working. Anyways, Pablo slowly starts to take more interest in Paco, thinking of him as a new father, because as in most dramas, the boy’s father has died from “Unknown Death Factor Disease”. Paco finds a repairman in the village to take care of the car issue while he continues to walk along with Pablo who doesn’t realize what the consequences might be for trusting a complete stranger.

This movie just felt too long for me. But then it was two hours, somewhat too long for a drama about a teen’s life about to spiral out of control. The Pablo/Paco scenes and the montages seemed almost eternal and there should’ve been a bit more Julia in the story. A fair number of shots were nearly continuous and I felt like collapsing of boredom. That, and the nature sounds were more audible than the dialogue itself at times. Almost all the time, it seemed like the two “friends” were whispering to each other. I suppose I should start taking Spanish lessons.

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