Rating: 4/5
Olivia (Isabel Sandoval) cares for an older woman, Olga (Lynn Cohen), whose grandson Alex (Eamon Farren) is coming home after some time abroad and will be staying with Olga and helping to care for her.
Olivia is undocumented and gives some of her pay to Matthew to secure a green card marriage. But when Matthew backs out, he leaves Olivia scared of ICE and unsure of her future
Alex and Olivia hook up, but it is not until a drunk friend of Alex’s goes through her stuff for things to steal and finds her pre-transition passport that Alex learns of Olivia being trans
The movie is slight and tries to tell the viewer as little as possible about what’s going on, leaving room for interpretation of people’s actions and where their intentions lie
The camera is often still, letting silent moments between characters linger. The soundtrack has no non-diegetic music to inform the viewer of what they should feel — classic indie /social issue movie stuff, but executed well
Unlike Sandoval’s film Señorita, the filmmaking does not hammer you over the head with the social issues at the heart of the movie, but it isn’t subtle about it either — nor does it need to be
Overall, a quiet but engaging film — I wish I had checked it out sooner
This film is leaving Netflix at the end of the month — check it out before it goes into streaming platform hell!