Las Acacias (2011, Giorgelli)

[fizz]

Las Acacias is a film you can’t fault for its simplicity. A road trip movie about a trucker who helps transport a woman and her baby daughter from Paraguay to Argentina, it is rhythmic in its pacing even when not a lot happens in the film itself.

Ruben frequents the highway that connects Asuncion to Buenos Aires carrying logs and timbers. At the start of the film he meets up with Jacinta, who he has been tasked with providing passage to till Argentina by his employer, where she is to meet with her cousin. The two make brisk conversation at the start of their journey but soon Ruben gets irked by Anahi, Jacinta’s 5 month old daughter who cries, needs to be fed and is the cause of them slowing down. The film is largely a mood piece; dialogue is scant and the plot is mostly devoid of any formative development, except for some back story on Ruben which works in the films favour during its closing moments.

It’s obvious where the film heads from this point onwards and the generic quality of the script is lifted by the warmth and curious child in the midst of these two adults. First time director Pablo Giorgelli does a tremendously skillful job of shooting most of his film from inside the cabin of the truck and the droning hum of the engine almost becomes calming to listen to as you watch Ruben thaw to the charms of Anahi and eventually her mother. By the time the film reaches its resolution and you’ve accepted that there is going to be no major subplot, no big revelation, just an expected infatuation and an uplifting resolution you come to accept that the trip itself is the film.

Rating: 3/5

[shariqq]

Las Acacias
Pablo Giorgelli | Argentina | 2011
84 min

The debut feature of Argentine director Pablo Giorgelli, Las Acacias is a road movie that observes the seeds of a new relationship between a truck driver and his erstwhile passengers, a mother & her infant daughter. Given the charge by his boss to bring a woman from Paraguay to Argentina on his trip, the lumber-truck driver initially sees this as a tepid inconvenience, eventually warming up to them. Directed with the patience and aesthetics of a mood-piece, the film does well to capture the journey the two adults make, on the road as well as towards each other. An observant start bereft of dialog sets the movie up nicely for a snug 84-minute experience of eloquent cinema, an experience easy to relish in.

My Rating --> 4 of 5

[shariqq]

This movie reminded me of North (Nord), from DIFF 2009 - and was equally satisfying.