Havana Fest

The Car

El Carro (Colombia)

By RONNIE SCHEIB

A Dago Garcia Producciones and Canal Caracol production. Produced by Sandra Bilichich. Executive producer, Caroina Barrera. Directed by Luis Orjuela. Screenplay by Dago Garcia.
 
With: Lully Bossa, Cesar Badillo, Diego Cadavid, Zaira Valenzuela, Andrea Gomez.
 

Winning, consistently funny comedy, with lively script by veteran Colombian producer/scribe Dago Garcia ("Maximum Penalty"), "The Car" is driven by unusually sharp helming from newcomer Luis Orjuela, and a dynamite ensemble cast. Pic recounts the story of the Velez family after the arrival of its latest member, a bright red automobile. Narrated by the brains of the clan, younger daughter Paola, the family's trials and triumphs become inextricable from their new mode of transportation. Crowd-pleasing pic, boffo at home, should get good mileage on Hispanic-targeted cable but is possibly too populist and not exotic enough for arthouse auds.

The Velezes think they are forever doomed to take public transportation. But when their neighbors win a brand new car in a raffle, the Velezes are presented with the undreamt-of opportunity to buy the neighbors' old car. Prudence dictates that they not take the economic plunge. But when their teenage son Oscar's (Diego Cadavid) latest money-making escapade lands him in jail, Mother (Lully Bossa) plunders the family's nest-egg inheritance to buy the car that her son believes is essential to his pubescent girl-getting needs.

Initially, Paola (Zaira Valenzuela) has her life turned upside down, having to vacate her digs in the garage and bunk down with her inimical older sis Andrea (Andrea Gomez). Next she almost dies in a traffic accident when Dad is distracted by a curbside curvaceous wench.

From its arrival, the car serves as catalyst and witness to each family member's subsequent development. Mother (Lully Bossa) ratchets up her incomparable organizing and worrying skills to a whole new level, surprisingly gaining a fresh sense of independence along the way. Beloved but fairly ineffectual Dad (Cesar Badillo) gains newfound self-confidence and stature -- particularly when he surprises himself by turning down sexual advances of a tall, statuesque neighbor and returns some much-appreciated backseat zest to his marriage.

Meanwhile, the kids drive through their various stages of socialization, in each case finalizing the process inside the house. Under Orjuela's direction, outside events, when taken indoors, become dramatically telescoped and more collectively played out as theater, the helmer creatively utilizing the oddly open architecture of the house for soaring or swooping revelations and satisfyingly melodramatic exits and entrances.

Lensing by J.C. Vasquez is crisp, the bright color palette adding to pic's warmly comic distance, which is plussed in turn by the aforementioned wide-open spaces of the set-design for the family home. All other tech credits are aces.

Camera (color), J.C. Vasquez; editor, Monica Cifuentes; music, Jymmi Pulido; art director, Hernan Garcia; sound (Dolby Surround) Carlos Lopera. Reviewed at Havana Film Festival in New York, April 29, 2004. Running time: 87 MIN.