Graced with a shimmering visual style and sense of lyrical self-consciousness that owes a debt to French visionary Jean Cocteau, the modest film provides further evidence of Mexico's recent cinematic renaissance.
60
Film Threat
Film Threat
A young man wanders the streets looking for love. There you have most of the plot of Julián Hernández's masterful debut feature. But what a rich cinematic journey this is!
60
L.A. WeeklyJon Strickland
L.A. WeeklyJon Strickland
If first-time writer-director Julián Hernández lets his knotted narrative get away from him too often, he nevertheless shows a miraculous sense of style for a 31-year-old.
40
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It all amounts to something less than an 80-minute Calvin Klein advertisement.
38
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Self-indulgent in the extreme, Julián Hernández's laconic ode to heartbreak feels like the work of a lovelorn teenager.
All the stylistic flourishes can't hide the lack of an actual plot, character development, or point. Like Gerardo, we wait, hoping something will happen, knowing nothing will.
A bleak, static mood piece about adolescent emptiness. There's little dialogue, and what there is offers the scantest information about Gerardo, who, as played by Mr. Ortuño, conveys an impenetrable blank-faced melancholy.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
Hernandez's debut feature is a thuddingly slow, often wordless portrait of emotional pain.