BERLINALE 2020 - Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine (Chico ventana también quisiera tener un submarino)

70th BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL

There is a lot to unpack in Alex Piperno's Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine. An enigmatic and mysterious drama that has two parallel stories running together: one a mysterious shed in Asia that has possible supernatural qualities and the other a young worker onboard a cruise ship who is able to transport into a woman's apartment mysteriously. 

Throughout its one hundred and ten minutes running time, director Alex Piperno crafts something here that is without an exact definition. It is an attribute that, for good or bad, will define the experience of the audience. On the positive side, such an enigmatic flair helps Piperno's film thematically in its conviction. There is a sense of a tense and intrusive weight in terms of loneliness and purpose, idealism and necessity, even privilege and survival are present here. All these melodies bubble and boil away in an effective prowess on screen. 

However, the hindrance of such an action is that writer-director Alex Piperno does not execute these sentiments through a strong screenplay but solely a visual standpoint instead. This, in itself, is a positive and negative. With a lack in dialogue, the mood is elevated with a wonderfully coy atmosphere and climate — courtesy of tight, passive and intrusive cinematography from Manuel Rebella that brews a rich sentiment of delivery. 

The negative is that Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine, without much dialogue, lacks presence and character. Its performances are held back without much motif or identification. Daniel Quiroga and Inés Bortagaray are left to play muted roles and once again, the visual weight is intensified. It becomes difficult for a viewer to find and emotional connection in these characters’ existential crises.

Ultimately, Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine often feels flat in its attendance and its demeanour while undoubtedly effective in its themes. The film can not quite find a balance to explore the depths of what it intends to discuss or examine genuinely.