Miami Film Festival - Lina From Lima
miami film festMaría Paz González' Lina from Lima is an evocative exploration of motherhood, loneliness and sensuality, with a pitch-perfect central performance from actress Magaly Solier.
It is clear from the get-go that María Paz González' film has a unique identity and bravado as well as a tone. Utilising musical features to convey emotional conviction, both visually and verbally, is an element that frees and epitomises the storytelling and the vividness entailed in Lina from Lima. While the weight of the feature might not necessarily be heavy and carried in a distinctive palette, the shooting of the film in such a tremendously seductive aesthetic is one with prowess and wonderfully energetic engagement.
Granted, for many, the flow and fluidity of the tone is striking and somewhat jarring. Still, it is that very Catch-22 that crafts Lina from Lima into something distinctively different from its contemporaries. In the moments of musical bravado, the film continually remains energetic, and encourages a layer of contextual flair within the soul of its titular character.
Lina, the character in question, is performed wonderfully by actress Magaly Solier, who, subtly but affectionately, embodies a character internally engulfed by depression. She also suffers from loneliness, and has the urge to empower herself, leaving the niggling feeling of quilt behind. Solier crafts something incredibly intimate and brewing in her portrayal, written with poignancy in a compelling arc by writer-director María Paz González. Solier extends this gratitude to a multifaceted and subdued performance.
If anything — by virtue of the musical numbers, and the especially dense and subdued thematic nature of the picture — the narrative direction the picture is taking often becomes slightly unclear. Aside from the engagement of its aesthetic, and the starring performance of Solier, the substance can often be found to abstain from taking centre stage, which dampens the engagement value of an otherwise strong feature.
