MIFF NOTES: Mimosas (2016, Dir. Olivier Laxe)

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get in front of an honest-to-goodness festival film this MIFF.

You know the sort. Minimal dialogue in some language other than English. Snail pacing. Lingering vistas. “World” music, possibly inflected by electric guitars. Documentary realism with the potential for a little magic realism if you’re lucky. General enigma. And an ending that arrives completely unheralded.

So, thank you, Mimosas. Thank you, director Oliver Laxe. Thank you, Morocco. Thank you, Atlas Mountains. Thank you, co-screenwriter Santiago Fillol for your Arabic (even if I’m not sure how you got that in there since all your other films have been in Spanish). Thank you, cinematographer Mauro Herce. And thank you, Cristóbal Fernández for holding off on those edits for as long as you did.

The festival experience is in full flight. Mimosas tucks in neatly. It won’t make much of a mark on the circuit but I enjoyed it for what it is.

End.

★★★

Trailer:

Mimosas screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.