Summer 1993

I have now watched the second of both Carla Simón's feature-length, award-winning films, and I have to say: I am in complete awe of her talent as a story-teller and a director. Even if (like Rainer Maria Rilke) this is the best she's got, then (also like said poet), it's more than enough. In Spain, after Franco finally died, a counter-culture movement, la movida madrileña, exploded into a party of art, music, film (Almodovar for one), and of course sex and drugs. As a direct consequence, so many people contracted HIV and died in late 80s and 90s (not only in Spain). This is a story of one child (Frida - autobiographically then, Carla Simón herself) who lost both parents, and was suddenly forced to adopt a new mother and father. The painful experience of adopting to a new family is told from the child's POV. It's heart-rending. It's beautiful. And it's brilliant: For 90 minutes, I kept asking myself "How in the hell did this director elicit those performances from not one, but TWO very young actors?" Everything about the movie rises to that level.