Alemania

María Zanetti's first feature opens while sixteen-year-old Lola is studying for her resits. The chance of a semester in Germany appears and she wants to take it, but her family, exhausted by her older sister's psychiatric condition, is against the trip. The film's real subject is an ordinary adolescent wish colliding with a family in crisis: Lola cannot tell the difference between being selfish and wanting a life of her own, and nobody explains it to her. Zanetti neither romanticises the illness nor pushes it aside; the sister's condition stands behind every scene, but the film proceeds from Lola's view rather than hers. The telling is calm and everyday, with small withdrawals instead of large confrontations. It is one of the recent examples of Argentine independent cinema. Who it's for: viewers who like coming-of-age stories and Latin American drama built on a family crisis. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a clear resolution and a fast narrative.