Review of After Lucia (2012) by Edgar C — 14 Apr 2014

The second most important Mexican contribution to the Cannes Film Festival of 2012 is an unusually good Mexican statement against bullying with an experimental fashion, directed by Michel Franco, who has been called "a Haneke apprentice". This description is given because of the prolonged shots and Haneke's early "immovable camera rule", present in his early films of the 90s and in Caché (2005), visual techniques that make the environments more engrossing and realistic, and the impactful psychological punches much more believable.

What rises to the surface in the first place is Franco's decision to make a statement about the emotional and physical repercussions of bullying, the consequences brought along by unmeasured actions (in both adolescents and adults) and, most importantly, lack of communication, with an experimental style that Mexico particularly hates. Unfortunately, Mexican audiences have a very immature perspective towards cinema and look for either extreme realism or maximum entertainment, but leave no room for the unusual, "foreign stuff". The film looks great and delivers its message strongly; it succeeds at its main two purposes: the thematic and the technical. Why, then, the artistic decision? Was it aimed at international masses? Maybe it was, because it deservingly won the Un Certain Regard Award.

The title is the strongest point: everything happened "after Lucía". It is of fundamental importance that the relationships between parents and sons/daughters remains stronger and more open than ever before, especially after a tragic loss of almost unsurmountable proportions that establishes a watershed in their lives. Lack of communication can lead to disaster and desperation, especially when solitude is such a pervasive, predominant issue in the person's lives. They feel distant, and remain distant intentionally from the only ones that can help them: family itself. Silence comes at a big cost.

You can argue that the situations represented here go to the extreme to state such arguments, and some do border on the unrealistic, but heck, cinema has the capacity to use that magical tool just to make us think. We sometimes need extreme cases to reflect.

All in all, it is a very recommended Mexican film, which has once again put the country on the map, away from the disgusting Academy Awards and nearer more prestigious recognition.

79/100.