{"id":53986,"date":"2023-03-03T08:12:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T06:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=53986"},"modified":"2023-03-15T09:59:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T07:59:02","slug":"dos-estaciones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=53986","title":{"rendered":"Dos Estaciones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dos Estaciones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dos Estaciones<\/em> is an eloquent portrait of an individual – Mar\u00eda, the owner of a tequila factory, yet it is as much a portrait of the land and the community, as the three are so closely interconnected. Director Juan Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ana Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez and Ilana Coleman, set his debut narrative feature in the landscape of his childhood, the Jalisco region of Mexico, known for its tequila.\u00a0 In its restrained, observational mode, and its moderate pace, the film has a documentary feel, it breathes with the land and the cycles of nature. Gerardo Guerra\u2019s breathtaking cinematography brings the landscape to vivid life, the breadth of land and sky fill the frame with a sense of beauty and destiny.<\/p>\n

Theresa S\u00e1nchez is magnificent as Senora Mar\u00eda, her strong features sculpted by an inner resilience and keen intelligence, her passions as powerful as her sense of control. Mar\u00eda has inherited the tequila factory and its lands from her father, but she has made it her own, expanding and developing the factory and its grounds. She is aware of her status and responsibilities as the main employer in this small town. She wears the mantle of her status with ease, accepting the respect that is her due, yet she is a caring boss. She knows her workers and their families, and on payday, each one comes into her office for a short talk, receiving their salary from her hands. Times are hard, and the pressures are mounting: a plague has been affecting local agave groves and foreign companies with huge amounts of cash have been buying out many farmers and local family-owned tequila distilleries. Yet like a family, they will weather the storms together \u2013 in her calm, confident manner, Mar\u00eda apologizes that she cannot pay this month\u2019s salary in full, and asks her employees to be patient, and work with her until she can turn things around.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez establishes Mar\u00eda\u2019s character as a somber, reserved, strong, authority figure, and then, in small moments, like gifts playfully hidden within the film, lets us see the light-hearted, graceful, and passionate aspects of this imposing character. As the guest of honor at a child\u2019s birthday party she has her eye on a newcomer, Rafaela (Rafaela Fuentes), and as she looks then looks away, then steals another glance \u2013 it is clear that Mar\u00eda likes what she sees.<\/p>\n

Mar\u00eda hires Rafaela, who is experienced in all aspects of tequila distilleries, hoping that with her help she can overcome the multitude of problems she faces. The development of their relationship is shown rather than explicitly stated, and there are some wonderfully joyous scenes between the two women. The more overt romance in the film is represented by Tat\u00edn (Tat\u00edn Vera), a trans woman and the local hair stylist, who conveys much about the community and Mar\u00eda\u2019s influence through her story. Tat\u00edn\u2019s salon is doing very well, so much so that she plans to expand \u2013 and it is clear that Mar\u00eda contributed generously to start up the salon. The film makes a lovely detour into Tat\u00edn\u2019s romantic adventure with Fernando (Jose Galindo), offering respite from the pressures mounting on Mar\u00eda.<\/p>\n

A living fortress of courage and determination, Mar\u00eda refuses to admit defeat, and S\u00e1nchez is mesmerizing in her valiantly committed portrayal.<\/p>\n

Dos Estaciones<\/em><\/p>\n

Mexico\/2022\/97 min\/Spanish with Hebrew and English subtitles<\/p>\n

Director: Juan Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez; Screenplay: Juan Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez, Ana Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez, Ilana Coleman; Cinematography: Gerardo Guerra; Music: Carmina Escobar; Cast: Teresa S\u00e1nchez, Rafaela Fuentes, Tat\u00edn Vera, Manuel Garc\u00eda-Rulfo, Jos\u00e9 Galindo, Ana Rosa Fuentes Estrada, Jos\u00e9 Luis Flores, Juan Carrillo, Juan Eduardo Fuentes Estrada<\/p>\n

*Originally viewed at TLVFEST 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dos Estaciones is an eloquent portrait of an individual – Mar\u00eda, the owner of a tequila factory, yet it is as much a portrait of the land and the community, as the three are so closely interconnected. Director Juan Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ana Isabel Fern\u00e1ndez and Ilana Coleman, set his debut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[96,287,214,288,286],"class_list":["post-53986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-film","tag-mexico","tag-queer","tag-transgender","tag-woman-owned-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}