La espera (2002) Reviews

• Aldo Garay's exquisitely crafted short feature film is a noteworthy piece of artistry.

  epetrov2003-02-10

  Sylvia is still a young woman. She works in a clothing factory and each evening returns home to care for her bedridden mother. Her life is as confined and oppressive as the small apartment in which they have lived for years, since before her father died, since Sylvia was a child. Their neighbor and longtime family friend, Modesto, is always there to help in small ways - and in very big ones, as well. He, too, sits alone in his rooms. Their lives are closely intertwined, yet each is separate, isolated, waiting. Aldo Garay's exquisitely crafted short feature film is a noteworthy piece of artistry. Shot in beautifully textured, saturated color, each frame speaks more eloquently than pages of dialogue. The characters develop, and the narrative grows from the rich accretion of visual images. La Espera is the cinematic equivalent of a fine short story: Nothing is wasted. Nothing is overstated. The language is rich in implication, yet concise and perfectly accessible. At the end, we understand quite well who these people are, and what has driven them to shape their lives as we have witnessed; yet all has been conveyed with remarkable economy and unforgettable visual resonance