36/18
Quoted on Radio Dolin: Oscars 2024: The Best Films from Around the World (2023)
Synopsis
Seven-year-old Sol spends the day at her grandfather’s house, where Sol’s father Tonatiuh is throwing a surprise party. As darkness falls, Sol realizes that her world is about to change dramatically. Official entry of Mexico for the Best International Feature Film category at the 96th Academy Awards 2024.
The amazing thing about this film for me was what it DIDN’T say
I saw this film 2 hours ago and I still have a lump in my throat. A completely real and utterly compelling story about a family that experiences loss together – as if by magic – before the loss had even really happened. Never didactic, always forgiving – as we are with those we love – the script painted the negative space and told a far more eloquent story by letting us fill in the gaps with our own experiences.
Each actor slipped into their roles effortlessly
The acting was great – which in this film meant that they didn’t seem like they were acting at all. Seamlessly. We watched them, these people, and laughed with them and felt what they felt.
And then I realize that I already know
I feel like I was invited to this gathering as part of the family. So many scenes make me think – I wonder not only what was left unsaid, but what came before and what came after. In conclusion, I would say that the timeless “TOTEM” is simply an indelible statement about the value of life and love and the significance of our passing – in its own way as meaningful and beautiful as life itself.
For me, this film is proof that film is a tool to make us feel alive and to remind us to always feel alive
Not only is this film suddenly one of my favorite films ever, but I would also say it is one of the few that changed me.