Mexican cinema has its big three directors Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón. But there is much more to get excited about! A next generation of directors like Fernando Eimbcke, Rodrigo Plá and Amat Escalante have already won multiple awards at different film festivals around the world. They represent among others what they nowadays call a new golden age of Mexican cinema. 

Lake Tahoe is Eimbckes second film among the three he has made so far. He made his debut film with the black-and-white comedy-drama Duck Season in 2004, his second film was Lake Tahoe from 2008 and his third Club Sandwich from 2013. Lake Tahoe is located in a sleepy, quite deserted town in Yucatan in the south of Mexico. It is about the teenager Juan who at the start of the film drives his car into a pole and starts to look for help to get it fixed. His search leads him to a number of encounters with peculiar characters whom he needs while at the same time they also are in need of him.

Juan is downhearted and at the end of the film we find out that there is a deeper cause to his malaise. His father has recently died, his mother is deeply depressed leaving him and his younger brother to themselves. Depressed people tend to avoid company and we see Juan attempting to walk out on his new relations and trying to escape from them. But at the same time he needs those new acquaintances who try to engage him in their needs and interests. Juan needs to overcome his detachment and his trauma, to face the reality of his loss and thereto he needs the presence of other needy people in his life. 

Lake Tahoe is beautifully shot, with many static camera positions. It is sparse and minimal. Eimbcke uses cuts to black as part of his narrative. Things happen during the blacks that we can imagine and fill in ourselves. The black frame tells its own story.  A different, quiet movie that impacts like a work of art!

Rinus, Oct 2019

*image posted under fair use of copyright material in recommendation of the film

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