Synopsis: Set in Mexico and Spain, Ashes (Ceniza en la Boca) tells the story of Lucila (Anna Diaz), a young Mexican woman looking for a better life in Spain where she takes her younger brother, Diego (Sergio Bautista), to reunite with their mother (Adriana Paz) who had left them eight years earlier to find a new life and, she says, eventually discover a way to bring her family back together. The ensuing difficulties, tragedy and unexpected obstacles find Lucila in an unforgiving world she doesn’t know and must try to navigate to simply survive.
Deadline’s take: With strong guidance from Diego Luna returning to the director’s chair to tell a very personal story of family, the experience of leaving and being left, of racism, immigration, and finding new life in a foreign country, Ashes is a powerful and moving motion picture. It is also unique in dealing directly with the hot-button topic of immigration, but surprisingly in two countries that speak the same language. This separates it from the usual stories we have been seeing in America where Mexicans try to assimilate themselves in the U.S. and run into a government dead set on keeping them out. In this case though it is Spain, and Luna and his co-writers show that a shared language is not the antidote to hatred and being welcomed in a new land.
The opening of the film, shot in darkness and shadows, shows us a mother tearfully saying goodbye to her sleeping children. This is just the beginning of the long emotional journey for Lucila and Diego as they will find a way to reunite with their mother. Diaz as Lucila is a revelation and the heart and soul of Ashes, which is based on the book by Brenda Navarro. Paz is also effective as the mother who felt she was out of choices and made a fateful decision, one that has tragic consequences. Ashes becomes a rich, and undeniably timely, addition to film depictions of the experiences of immigrants in both heartbreaking and humane ways.
Title: Ashes (Ceniza en la Boca)
Festival: Cannes (Special Screenings)
Director: Diego Luna
Screenwriters: Diego Luna, Abia Castillo, Diego Rabasa
Cast: Anna Díaz, Adriana Paz, Luisa Huertas, Teresa Lozano, Guillermo Ríos, Adriana Jacomé, Sergio Bautista, Benny Emmanuel, Irene Escolar, Anna Alarcón, Dailyn Valdivieso, Charlie Rowe, Laura Gómez
Sales agent: Luxbox
Running time: 1 hr 42 mins
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English (US) ·