Lake Tahoe (2008)

Director:

Fernando Eimbcke

Writers:

Fernando Eimbcke (screenplay)
Paula Markovitch (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 July 2008 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A story of a teenager and the strange events that take place in his small town. |

Plot Keywords:

Grieving Mother | Cult Film Reference | Mexican Stereotype | Little Brother | Sticker

Awards:

10 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Diego Cataño	...	Juan
Hector Herrera	...	Don Heber
Daniela Valentine	...	Lucia
Juan Carlos Lara II	...	David
Yemil Sefani	...	Joaquin
Olda López	...	David's mother
Mariana Elizondo	...	Mother of Juan and Joaquín
Joshua Habid	...	Fidel
Raquel Araujo	...	Arturo's mother
Enrique Albor	...	Owner of blue car
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Noemi Landaverde	...	Child
Pedro Stepanenko	...	Juan's father

Also Known As:

¿Te acuerdas de Lake Tahoe? (Mexico) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:89 min | Germany:85 min (Berlin International Film Festival) | Argentina:89 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Mexico | Japan | USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:Btl | UK:12A | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico

Company:

Cine Pantera

Dull treatise on death and how we deal with it

Seen at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe is the director's second feature and follow-up to the acclaimed Duck season which also played at AFI Film Fest.

Again, the director follows the lives of children left alone by adults and left to their own means. The movie opens with a crash of a car and the journey the lead character takes in trying to mend this quaint auto is our incision into his life.

Wide shots are used to create distance. Intimacy is hard to find and long fade to blacks obscure the action in this roman a clef. Curiously short of real drama by the director's choice, it deprives the audience of any real drama.

It plays like a series of vignettes of which include chasing a dog, babysitting a child, a visit to the movie theater and sex; all to show the characters way of dealing with pain. But is is the audience who is really in pain in this slow, boring and ultimately unsatisfying expose on death in a family.

The comedy that was effective in Duck Season pontificates scenes that it should not. The lack of focus in camera set-ups contributes to the blandness. A life time TV movie that is way too long and ultimately insulting because it deceives the viewer that it is up to way more when it really isn't.