So Much Water

Tanta Agua (which might be translated as "So much water") tells the little story of a short vacation of a divorced father, his entering- adolescence daughter and his around 10 year old son. They are not lucky with the weather, so they have to spend most of time inside the motel or doing visits to the surroundings which are less than little interesting. The father efforts to entertain his children are not very successful either. This situation soon makes boredom and even certain strain arise specially between father and daughter. Nevertheless, situations are depicted with an amusing sense of humor, and, particularly in the first half of the film, this is one of its strong points.

Nestor Guzzini and Malú Chouza play excellent, very believable roles as father and daughter, and the very good camera work of directors Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, with predominance of close-ups, makes us feel very much inside the scenes of the family life, sensing their often uneasy interactions, their boredom, their concerns.

The story focuses mainly on the daughter, and we might consider it a sort of coming-of-age film. This is particularly evident in the second half of the film, when an interest of the daughter for a guy in the resort comes up. Her hopes, struggle, disappointments are finely played by the protagonist Malú Chouza, and the film acquires here a somewhat more dramatic side, without ever becoming a real, genuine drama.

In summary, a simple, unpretentious film, but very nice to watch. And for Spanish and Latinoamerican people other than Uruguayans and Argentinians, it has the additional interest of listening to the often funny and charming Uruguay-Argentina jargon; another reason to give this film a chance and watch it.