Tótem is a film of unexpected beauty, using Sol as a conduit for exploring the quandaries of a family navigating matters of love, heartbreak, class, innocence, and, perhaps most prominently, mortality.
[Totem] is nothing so manipulative as a tearjerker, with Avilés’s exceptional direction keeping sentimentality at bay while still, almost magically, sampling the different flavours of grief that run like currents and crosscurrents between the members of this close-knit, bickering family.
Avilés works in a generous, open-ended style, treating her characters as impulsive, occasionally contradictory souls with lives that continue when the cameras aren’t rolling — three-dimensional beings only partly revealed to us, each one hiding unknowable mysteries all their own.
A luminous and soul-nourishing microcosm built on profound love in the face of impending grief... As remarkable as “The Chambermaid” was, “Tótem” feels richer in its sublimely compassionate, cinematic observations on subjects for which words alone wouldn’t suffice.
It’s a wonderfully busy piece of work, fraught with messy emotions but in too much of a rush for overt sentimentality... Tótem shares [Roberto's] belief that with just the right care and attention (not too much, not too little) something as unruly as a family can be held together.
Noisy, joyous and as exhausting as the multi-generational bash at the heart of its story, Totem packs a hefty wallop for a film that’s only 95 minutes, and should further solidify Aviles’ reputation as an auteur with a unique vision and remarkable skills with actors, especially non-professionals.
There is a beautiful, but for me also rather placid, sadness at the centre of [Totem]... [Still,] this is clearly a very personal project for Avilés, and the heartbreak feels very real.
This thematically rich piece offers a set of vivid character studies, while musing on life, death and time... [Totem] has a fearless, characterful child lead in first-timer Naíma Sentíes; her interplay with the sparky younger Gurza and with the adults shows Avilés’s skill at nurturing the children’s confidence, the rapport across generations exuding manifest spontaneity and warmth.
Although unequivocally underpinned by profound sadness and impending loss, a tender spirit of warmth and levity permeates [Totem], sustaining a buoyancy that keeps the film from sinking into mawkish waters.
Although unequivocally underpinned by profound sadness and impending loss, a tender spirit of warmth and levity permeates [Totem], sustaining a buoyancy that keeps the film from sinking into mawkish waters.
Poignant but never sentimental, Tótem is a highly flavorful stew of characters whose various idiosyncrasies provide a loving, sometimes contentious tapestry.