Friday, May 24, 2013

CLFF 2013: In the Middle of Heaven


This plot could easily be transported to any country. An office executive Andrea at a design and advertising firm barely sees the janitor Gualberto who works at her building. She is a A-type personality but her boss challenges her to deliver a project much sooner than expected. Although she is only in her thirties, she sees the writing on the wall when he also gives a younger attractive rival the same opportunity, so Andrea needs to work all weekend to deliver. Unfortunately it is her birthday this weekend, and her best friend, who is also her trusted assistant, has to remind her which restaurant her boyfriend is meeting her at. Her friend/assistant encourages her to take some time to celebrate but Andrea angrily responds that she is not dedicated like herself to work on the weekend, and their friendship is tested.

After a bit Andrea feels guilty about breaking her birthday date with her boyfriend, but spills something on her blouse at the office and attempts to wash it before the date. She goes up on the roof of the office building to hang up her blouse to dry, but does not realize that the door that was propped open locks from the inside. Gualberto's colleagues had propped it open so that he could exit, as he was cleaning up for the night in a roof shed. Of course she closes the door in order not to be seen without her blouse.

As expected, once she and Gualberto are trapped on the roof, Andrea throws her weight around, making assumptions about Gualberto's intelligence, class etc. Gualberto good-naturedly takes it all in stride as he's seen these types of personalities before, and actually tries to help the ungrateful Andrea by offering her a soccer team flag as a blanket, or sharing his apple for a meal, or scrounging up an old tortilla to cook on his camp stove, as the night goes on.

There are a couple opportunities to call for help when Andrea's boyfriend comes to look for her, or when they throw a water bottle to a passerby, or when they try to get the attention of someone in the apartment building across the street, but all are unsuccessful. They both talk about their families--Gualberto's daughter whom he tries to instill his love of soccer to, and Andrea's father who tried to do the same to her. They find common ground when Andrea admits to Gualberto that she only pretended to like soccer to spend time with her dad and suggests Gualberto treat his daughter more like a girl than a boy.


Talking over the project that is due on Monday, Gualberto comes up with an idea and Andrea finds out he is a pretty good artist. When they are finally rescued Monday morning, Andrea rushes to put together her pitch with Gualberto and her assistant's help. The feel-good ending has Andrea owning her own firm with Gualberto and the friend as employees.

The film style often involved a moving camera to mimic being on a boat--rocking and rolling--even with some dialog and sounds doing the same, such as distant sounds of waves or when they put a message in a water bottle to throw at someone. One of the filmmakers said this was deliberate in order to give the idea that Andrea and Gualberto were isolated from the world on an island with their predicament.

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