Walking Distance (Alejandro Guzmán Alvarez, 2015): Mexico

Reviewed by Markus Linecker. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2016.

If someone has the ability to savor old Italian-style movies such as Vittorio D’Sica’s Humberto D, they will know how this piece slowly unfolds emotions. This film, made in Mexico, deals with extreme weight of Federico (Luca Ortega). He cannot leave his lonely house because he cannot breathe after five steps. To survive, he has a job of making jewelry, and is only infrequently visited by his combative sister and her husband (Martha Claudia Moreno and Mauricio Isaac) who passively likes Federico.

This is Alejandro Guzman’s first feature film, in Spanish with subtitles, and he chooses to direct the film with a bittersweet flavor. The static shots, with long takes, allow us to concentrate and study the characters, but also give a feeling of claustrophobia. There is a shot where Federico is framed by a doorway, and he is on display as sweating, melancholy and almost crushed figure, right before the pivotal change of mood that creates the rest of the story.

Federico, alone and without connection, finds an old roll of negatives, and is inspired to take on a monumental task of walking down the five blocks to the photo shop. There he meets Paolo (Joel Figueroa), a punk-looking teenager who is actually very sweet, and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Federico then empties his account to buy a digital camera, as he tries to emulate his brother-in-law’s passion for photography. Paolo comes over to fix the camera, and the three men develop an empowering triad: mutually, they help Ramon stand up to his wife, Federico to get out into the world, and Paolo to recognize his acceptance by the other two. The beautiful part of this is that there is no prejudgment between them. They are all there for each other, and we are reassured that the strangest parts of us can be accepted and encouraged by others. The last scene, with a couch in a pick-up truck, truly captures this aspect.