Marina (Llúcia Garcia), an 18-year-old orphaned Spanish student, travels from Barcelona to Vigo for “bureaucratic” reasons as she has been awarded a scholarship at a university in Barcelona to study film. But in bureaucratic fashion she must be recognized on her father’s death certificate as his daughter. She ventures to Vigo in the Galician region of Spain attending the civil registry office to obtain a copy of the death certificate but she has not been listed as his daughter and the only manner of correction is to have his parents, Marina’s biological grandparents, attend the registry office and swear that Marina is the daughter of Alfonso, Marina’s father.
Marina is cast on a sea of uncertainty, lies, coverups and familial censorship. Alfonso died of AIDS in 1992 a shameful disease at that point in time. As his brother Iago stated, showing a picture to Marina of his past in the 1980’s, all in the photo, except him, died of AIDS, overdoses or accidents and it was not uncommon to “hide” family members who had contracted AIDS. Marina learns from her cousins (and not from Alfonso’s parents, brothers and sisters) Alfonso was in fact hidden away and her grandmother denied access to him by his friends.
The silence of suppression of the truth places Marina in very choppy seas to navigate, a fitting allegory as there is water and sailboats predominating in the film. The film is replete with a sense of overwhelmingness with so many family members being rapidly introduced not only is Marina overwhelmed but the viewer as well. If this was intentional very clever filmmaking indeed.
Marina’s “bureaucratic mission” rapidly escalates to asserting her true identity through a revised death certificate which she pursues despite an attempted easy “buy off” to protect her grandmother’s emotional state or is it guilt?
Marina’s mother and father were junkies living a destructively decadent lifestyle briefly emulated Marina in a bizarre trippy hallucination where she becomes her mother and her cousin her father.
Brilliant filmmaking, superb casting and a beautifully discordant soundtrack.
Why is such a seemingly joyous ending leaving this reviewer so despondent? Is this how great this film is?
You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da3CAnPA_EM
Directed by Carla Simón.
RKS EURO FILM RATING 93/100.
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