Lake Tahoe

Japan, United States, Mexico

2008

85 Min

Color

1.33:1

English, Spanish

Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
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SCR Fernando Eimbcke, Paula Markovitch

CAST Diego Cataño, Héctor Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara, Yemil Sefami, Olda López, Mariana Elizondo, Joshua Habid, Raquel Araujo, Enrique Albor

Berlinale (Competition): Alfred Bauer Prize, FIPRESCI Prize, San Francisco (New Directors), London (Film on the Square), Cannes (Semaine de la critique), Transilvania: Special Mention, Karlovy Vary (Horizons), San Sebastián (Horizones Latinos), Mar del Plata, San Sebastián (Contemporary Mexican Cinema)

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Juan has had enough of his family – all the never ending problems and the rows – and so he leaps into the family car and takes off. His escape ends up on the edge of town when he drives the red racer into a telegraph pole. He rings home and his little brother Joaquin answers. Nothing has changed at home. Juan hangs up, and to repair the car he finds Don Heber, a latent paranoid mechanic who lives with his dog, Sica. The mechanic’s clever dog accompanies Juan on his search for a missing car part; once Juan has found it, Don can begin repairing the car. Before long, Juan and Sica find a spares dealer, where they find Lucia, a punk who may know all about punk music, but she knows absolutely nothing about panels, coolers and carburettors. And so they have to wait for someone who does know about these things. David, a teenager and kung-fu fan, turns out to be an expert in all things mechanical. In one single day the absurd and completely irreconcilable worlds of these people help Juan to understand that there are things that are as inevitable and inexplicable as death.

Director

Fernando Eimbcke

Fernando Eimbcke (born in 1970 in Mexico City) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Fernando Eimbcke studied film direction at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos of the UNAM (1992–1996). He started his career directing music videoclips and short films. His feature debut in Mexican cinema was the 2004 Temporada de patos (Duck Season), which won several Film Festival awards including the Ariel Award for Best Film. His latest film, Lake Tahoe was received positively at the Berlin International Film Festival, winning two awards. —Wikipedia

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Vanessa

11Feb12

growing fond of Eimbcke

Peter Tran

14May11

Such a sweet film. Highly recommended

Fidel Antonio Medel

15May10

Lake Tahoe begins when Juan crashes their family car into a post. He desperately tries to have it fixed. His encounters with the sleepy town’s citizens are at the fore of this black comedy. He meets a kung fu fanatic, a frustrated rock band vocalist, and an old man living alone with his dog. Lake Tahoe has a consistent signature style. For each frame, the shots are taken from a single angle that cuts through the next scene or fades to black. The plot unfolds slowly but with such delicateness and understatement. It is only until the end that we find out why he is too desperate to fix the crashed family car. For more movie reviews, go to www.pixelatedpopcorn.blogspot.com.