Review | Malta ( 2024): ""The slowness of an ordinary life chewed up as the days go by""

How many Colombian movies can we see? Do we have access to them? A few months ago I took a look at a synopsis (considering that most of them are blatantly wrong), of a movie that probably the Netflix algorithm suggested to me, saved it to my list and finally watched it.

*Available on Netflix

(Malta, 2024)

A young woman named Mariana (Estefania Piñeres, keep that name) is unhappy at work (who hasn't?), has a complicated love and sex life (cast the first stone...) and dreams of going to Malta one day, a European archipelago near Sicily in Italy.I don't deny my increasing desire to watch films by female directors and although I didn't think about it at the time I read the synopsis, it is directed and scripted by a woman, Natália Santa (keep that name too), who was the first Colombian director to have participated in the Cannes festival in 2017, in the Directors' Fortnight, with the film A Defesa do Dragão that he directs and writes.

Having made the proper introductions that I needed to share with you, since the provocation of how many Colombian films we can see encourages me to research who makes cinema in our neighboring country, we have here a film without twists and turns, great emotional outbursts, tearful romances. It is in the passing of the days, in the extremely boring work of our protagonist Mariana, but which allows her to research and dream about Malta, in the nightclubs and bars in search of affection and sex, and in the intricate coexistence with the family that the story follows its rhythm, in the possible identifications that we will have with the characters.The lean script gradually unveils who this person is in the world, Mariana who, still lives with her mother and sister, studies German at night, listens to many podcasts in this language, is not afraid to flirt and get close to some boy who is interesting to her in the club, even if some "failed" dates make us laugh a lot and others however, shows the gender violence that is always lurking (the straight woman never has peace).

(Malta, 2024)

Our character at first glance is closed, unsympathetic, we don't understand so much hostility in living with her mother and sister and a certain admiration and defense of her brother who left home without explanation. But the narrative goes unhurriedly, with hard and resentful dialogues, however, full of an affection that cannot be manifested in a way that is essential for us human beings, the touch, the meeting of bodies; evidencing the weaknesses of these characters, their defects, qualities, humor, motivations, pains.

When difficult things are not talked about but buried in a family nucleus, at any tremor, we can collapse. Just like every goldfish that dies and is buried in the matriarch's potted plants.The script also takes us to current themes such as alcoholism and paternal abandonment. And, in my opinion, it innovates when we have the ability to ask ourselves: why is it more acceptable for a husband to abandon himself when falling in love with another woman and not the other way around? There is also an interesting, but sad arrangement for Mariana, between the two daughters and Julia's son (I'll talk about her later) and her father, but talking more about it would spoil the filmic experience.

At a time when we are discussing a prudish cinema where there are no more sex scenes and when there are they are bland, or this strange demand that there can be no "free" sex scenes, we get involved in a delicious, funny, affectionate, delicate scene of pleasure for two and, of course, horny.All the interpretations are tailor-made, from Mariana's nephew, a child, to Julia, the protagonist's mother, played by actress Patricia Tamayo who I believe is a veteran actress of Colombian cinema and theater. Julia's character through her dialogues externalizes grudges, a deep sadness and perhaps some regrets for the choices made in her life. After a revealing scene about the character, there is no way not to welcome her pain.The love, complicity and also the anger that exists between Mariana and her sister Monica (Angela Rodriguez) is very palpable, as well as her brother Rigo (Edwin Riveros), loved by his sisters but criticized for his disappearance and possible paternal abandonment. It is a character who comes and goes when it is convenient for him, while the female characters are the ones who must fight to pay the bills, take care of the house with all its chores and the sick grandfather.

In a scene, which dialogues with me in a very particular way, Mariana and her classmate/friend/crush Gabriel (Emmanuel Restrepo) are in front of a house in which she has already lived and which is for sale. When we manage to enter it, our protagonist is faced with how memory can betray us, since the size of the backyard was much smaller than she always believed. At the same time, this same memory "clicks" the character to the point that she recognizes that it was in that house that she lived, even with the different façade.The small daily dramas that this film reveals to us are not resolved on screen. They follow the flow of life, the life of any one of us. For some this may be a script failure, as if they were subplots that do not converge or end satisfactorily. For me, the questions left in the air are what most stimulate me to scrutinize my own life and my daily life.Did Mariana finally go to Malta? And how many dreams can fit in a lifeda?

Curiosities: Through this film I discovered the existence of FICCI, International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias (hometown of actress Estefania Piñeres) which has existed since 1960, being the oldest in Latin America. And I also discovered the SXSW Film & TV Festival that takes place annually in Austin, Texas and celebrates innovation and new talent in film and television.