It has been a year and a half since director Li Cheng’s “José” won the Venice Film Festival’s Queer Lion. It would be a shame to let the lag time diminish expectations. After a Lgbtq fest run, the Spanish-language drama — about a young gay man in Guatemala — has opened theatrically and continues to expand. That it does so steadily, quietly, seems perfectly apt for a drama rife with quotidian grace.
Portrayed with unerring soulfulness by newcomer Enrique Salanic, 19-year-old José lives with his mother in a cramped Guatemala City apartment. Theirs is a hardscrabble life. She’s increasingly shooed away by police from a spot on the city sidewalks where she sells meat pies. He hustles a bustling street corner near the restaurant where he works, waving cars toward the curb so that he can carhop food to them. Some afternoons, he slips away for trysts with men...
Portrayed with unerring soulfulness by newcomer Enrique Salanic, 19-year-old José lives with his mother in a cramped Guatemala City apartment. Theirs is a hardscrabble life. She’s increasingly shooed away by police from a spot on the city sidewalks where she sells meat pies. He hustles a bustling street corner near the restaurant where he works, waving cars toward the curb so that he can carhop food to them. Some afternoons, he slips away for trysts with men...
- 2/18/2020
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Precisely written and deliberately shot, “José,” a Guatemala-set Lgbtq character examination from Chinese-born director Li Cheng, is a movie preoccupied with the private tragedy of unfulfilled impulses and aspirations as a result of widespread homophobia and emotional blackmail.
Between his job flagging down cars to get costumers to eat at a shuco (Guatemalan-style hot dog) restaurant and helping his devoutly religious mother, 19-year-old José (Enrique Salanic) finds time to live out his sexuality in secret through dating-app hookups. We never see what’s on his cell phone’s screen, but we do witness clandestine meetings with men in dark rooms. Even as the sun shines outside, light barely penetrates the furtive interiors shrouded by thick shadows.
As if the camera is spying on José’s rendezvous, Cheng and cinematographer Paolo Giron always film him from afar, usually on the opposite side of the sidewalk as he waits for his next...
Between his job flagging down cars to get costumers to eat at a shuco (Guatemalan-style hot dog) restaurant and helping his devoutly religious mother, 19-year-old José (Enrique Salanic) finds time to live out his sexuality in secret through dating-app hookups. We never see what’s on his cell phone’s screen, but we do witness clandestine meetings with men in dark rooms. Even as the sun shines outside, light barely penetrates the furtive interiors shrouded by thick shadows.
As if the camera is spying on José’s rendezvous, Cheng and cinematographer Paolo Giron always film him from afar, usually on the opposite side of the sidewalk as he waits for his next...
- 1/29/2020
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
Madrid — Venice 2018 Queer Lion winner “José,” a movie which went on to play 50 festivals in 35 countries, has been acquired for North American distribution and international sales by Paul Hudson’s Outsider Pictures.
Strand Releasing will handle digital distribution. “José” was acquired from its production house YQstudio.
World premiering in Venice Days, “Jose,” a Guatemala-set gay love story which is directed by the U.S.-based Li Cheng, turns on José, a 19-year-old working class Guatemalan who lives in the humblest of circumstances with his clinging mother, makes ends meet, falls head over heels in love with Luis, a construction worker.
Working a neorealist tradition – non-pro actors, detailed description of diurnal reality, a contained narrative of larger social resonance – “José” has won praise for what Hudson called “a gripping, layered and beautifully honest story” and a “nuanced and vivid look at being gay in Central America.”
“José” is proving broader based in its audience appeal,...
Strand Releasing will handle digital distribution. “José” was acquired from its production house YQstudio.
World premiering in Venice Days, “Jose,” a Guatemala-set gay love story which is directed by the U.S.-based Li Cheng, turns on José, a 19-year-old working class Guatemalan who lives in the humblest of circumstances with his clinging mother, makes ends meet, falls head over heels in love with Luis, a construction worker.
Working a neorealist tradition – non-pro actors, detailed description of diurnal reality, a contained narrative of larger social resonance – “José” has won praise for what Hudson called “a gripping, layered and beautifully honest story” and a “nuanced and vivid look at being gay in Central America.”
“José” is proving broader based in its audience appeal,...
- 8/14/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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