Let’s never go home.
Sundown stars Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Neil and Alice Bennett, members of a wealthy family who are on vacation in Mexico. Neil is quiet and contemplative while Alice seems anxious, but they still seem to be making the best of their little vacation.
Alice receives a distressing phone call that their mother is ill, and the plan needs to be cut short. Before they even make it to the airport the phone rings again, and it is too late to say goodbye. At the airport, Neil says he lost his passport and sends the rest of the family ahead.
We then follow Neil as he goes to a different hotel and begins his vacation again. Sparking a relationship with a local named Berenice (Iazua Larios) he seems to never want to go home. We as the audience have to piece together what is going on while watching Neil dodge his family and avoid his connections.
I can’t say much more without risking spoilers. However, the film is anchored by a fantastic performance from Roth, and his stoic desire to simply be drives him further and further away from his family. We watch someone completely detach from the world, and this is where the crux of the film comes in. Just because someone disconnects with the world does not mean the world disconnects from them.
We see the situation with Neil’s family continue to spiral as they cannot make sense of what he is doing, or why. What is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is that it asks you to consider a position that you may agree with on principle, bight might deny in practicality.
Wonderfully shot and calmly paced this one certainly isn’t for everyone. For those who it clicks for, though, this is one of the years’ best.
Jay Hates Movies 