C
CLOCKING IN AT 85 MINUTES, the minimalist, glamour-free growing up tale José is a slim, powerful film. It replicates what it’s like to wander toward your future in your late teens. For a lot of us, I think there’s a sense of what we would do when we’re a grown-up. For the film’s title character, this predicament isn’t filled with pie-eyed wonder. Each day teems with slowmounting dread. Life in Guatemala City for 19-year-old José (Enrique Salanic) is one of struggle, where he bathes with a cup and water, where religion offers purposeless martyrdom. It’s a relentless life. Mom (Ana Cecilia Mota) sells meat sandwiches on the street; José flags cars passing by the restaurant he works, and then serves the customers. They’re both up before dawn, riding in the back of pick-up trucks and well-used buses to repeat the cycle. Upward mobility is a foreign concept. The only joy José has comes from his afternoon trysts with Luis (Manolo Herrera), a hand26
foreign
PETE CROATTO
José some construction worker at a nearby flophouse, far from the neighbors’ stares and vicious gossip. They share moments at night or out of town, but a relationship conducted in the shadows is unsatisfying. Luis, who wants more, expresses that displeasure. But José can’t make the leap to a new life, which is understandable. It’s hard to see the light when you live in constant blight. José has kept his homosexuality a secret, but his God-fearing mother suspects something. It’s why she prays her boy stays on the right path, why she wails that she’d be lost without him. José has to contend with the expectations of previous generations, where everyone stays in the same neighborhood and works the same job and expects nothing more. No one strives in José’s life. When he asks a coworker if he’s going to stay with a nice girl who’s clearly interested him, the coworker scoffs at the notion. Even José can’t figure out what’s next for him. Should he look for sex as a break? Should he settle with the young professional who will let him live with him? José
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wanders the streets a lot, looking for answers in the same places. I suspect some readers will find José pokey or rudderless when those qualities define young adulthood. Movies and television shows—well, the bad ones—portray the ages of 18–21 with lesson-learning via tame debauchery or ill-advised hook-ups. A lot of that time is actually spent wondering why things haven’t happened, denying the reality that you don’t become 21, get a job, and enter the world of adult wonders. There is more growing up to do, more discomfort to endure. But it all helps us become interesting and interested. José may come from a world away, but he has a lot in common with the residents in any freshman dorm. Director Li Cheng doesn’t offer any simple answers, because there aren’t any. Only José can learn solve his problem. That is the ultimate compliment to the audience. He’s not told what to do and neither are we. It may not be cinematic, but, hey, that’s life [NR] n
