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2011, 04-09:
Review of film: “GESTATION” + Q&A with Director ESTEBAN RAMIREZ = Report # 06 re 27th LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
“GESTATION” / “GESTACIÓN”
Periodically, the Latino Film Festival has put up POSTERS for upcoming screenings, as shown in the photo above (with Festival volunteer Carlos next to one for tonite’s film)...
... As the weekend arrived, the crowds for the films tended to increase (indicated by the photo below of people waiting to enter various theaters at the Landmark Century Centre)...
... This report concerns the 91-minute 2009 film “GESTATION” from Costa Rica, which is based on a TRUE story...
... In a shopping mail, 16-year-old girl Jessie (ADRIANA ALVAREZ) is shopping with her friend Alba. A 17-year-old guy named Teo (EDGAR ROMÁN) chances to see them, & is immediately “smitten” with the beautiful Adriana...
... Edgar follows her into a clothing shop, and sees Adriana is interested in a blue blouse but can’t afford it... After they leave the store, Edgar quickly follows the 2 girls-- and makes Adriana a GIFT of the blouse she’d admired (which he’d quickly bought for her)... She’s very surprised at the gesture, but also very touched by his sweet gesture...
... In short order, Edgar and Adriana start to date. He’s a very “breezy”, easy-going and self-confident young man, & she gets a KICK out of his warmth and nuttiness... We see them walk thru beautifully-photographed areas of San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica), and they both very much enjoy being with each other...
... At one point, Adriana visits Edgar’s home, & is impressed with how large & well-appointed it is. It’s clear that his mother (who’s “separated” from his father) is from a very well-to-do family, whereas she is from a very LOW-income family (living with her hard-working mother and a young brother in a small home, with no help from her father)...
... In his bedroom, Edgar shows Adriana a photo on his wall of Johnny Depp in the movie “ED WOOD”. Edgar says, that’s his favorite actor, & he himself wants to BE an actor. Adriana laughs at the funny impression he does of Johnny... (She herself would like to be an engineer later in life)...
... As time goes on, they continue dating... Edgar at one point urges his mother to let him, studying ACTING— but, she wants him to have a more “serious” profession & (to his great disappointment) refuses to pay for any such dramatic training...
... Edgar “concentrates” on his growing relationship with Adriana, & it’s the FIRST LOVE for both of them...
... At one point, the couple (who hadn’t been clearly taught about sex) become intimate with each other...
... But, since Edgar clearly seems to be looking for a LONG-TERM relationship, Adriana joyfully joins him after that in getting together & doing “simple” things with each other, like eating at a restaurant...
... They walk thru the city, oblivious to the crowd around them...
... At a shopping mall, Adriana laughs happily as she rides on Edgar’s back...
... And in a “world of their own”, the couple blissfully kiss as people walk around them...
... At one point in their dating life, they go by a New Year’s Eve celebration in the streets...
... Things go along well-- until Adriana discovers that she is PREGNANT by Edgar (since, not thinking “ahead”, they’d used no “protection” when being intimate)... At first, Edgar is deeply UPSET at the news, realizing that it could severely impact their futures...
... On his own, he talks to friends of his (such as Bryan), & he’s put in contact with a “black market” guy who offers to get him some PILLS that can supposedly give Adriana a “spontaneous” abortion (which she can’t get from a doctor as things like that are illegal in the country)... He even uses his own money to come up with the 145,000 colons (about $ 300 in U.S. dollars) that the pills cost...
... But, being a very religious person (attending a Catholic girl’s school & all), Adriana refuses to take the pills... Initially, Edgar is very DISTURBED by that decision-- but, he eventually assures her he’ll stay “WITH” her in the situation & that he CARES for her...
... As happens in relationships (& especially teenaged ones), some disagreements arise between Edgar and Adriana. She at one point angrily calls him a “LOSER” who’ll never amount to much in life, & he’s deeply hurt by her words, & he starts “DISTANCING” himself from her...
... Very wounded by Adriana’s words, Edgar starts to spiral somewhat out of control... When he starts getting involved with drugs, his friend Bryan works to try to keep him AWAY from such a world like that, and encourages him to let Adriana know what she means to him...
... Edgar appreciates that his friend cares about his situation, and at one stage works to try to “FIX” things with Adriana-- but she refuses to talk with him...
... Adriana has (naturally) confided in her friend Alba about her “situation” (of being pregnant). When the school year resumes, the two girls return to the Catholic girls’ school together. Some other girls overhear some words between the two friends, & their knowledge eventually “filters” down to some of the nuns running the school...
... The head nun is very disturbed to learn the news about Adriana’s “condition”, & insists that she has to enter the school thru the back door & have classes and recess by HERSELF rather than with her classmates. As the administrator nun tells another nun there, “A rotten apple may rot the others” there...
... Adriana is very HURT by the treatment given her at the school...
... At one point, she works to sneak out of her separate room to join her friends at recess, & is strongly reprimanded by the administrator nun...
... Adriana’s mother is also very angry at the way her daughter is being treated in school, & commiserates with a female relative of hers (who agrees the treatment is simply WRONG)...
... Alba (who’s also disturbed by the treatment of Adriana) at one point goes to complain to EDGAR about what “he” supposedly “caused” her friend to endure. She yells at him from outside his own school bus, & her words are insulting & unfair in what she says to him...
... If that weren’t bad enough, what she says tells OTHERS in the bus (from his “high-level” school) that he’d gotten Adriana pregnant & “LEFT” her alone...
... That causes people at HIS school to start treating HIM badly, which deepens the rift between him & Adriana even more...
... Adriana is very displeased when she learns how Alma had interfered in the situation... But, she starts to forgive her when Alma works to foster PROTESTS by her fellow students at the UNFAIR way the school has treated Adriana...
... Publicity from the protest helps get an involvement from a CIVIL RIGHTS group, & they push for a formal complaint against the actions by the school... Reluctantly, the head nun REVERSES her ruling & allows Adriana to re-join her CLASSMATES in her studies and recess...
... In time, Adriana is able to get the strength to APOLOGIZE to Edgar for the unfair & hurtful things that she & others had said to him...
... They start communicating again, & Adriana realizes he’s still the same sweet person he’d shown himself to be at the beginning...
... Things go well between them, since he’d never stopped caring for her, & he says he wants to MARRY her & “BE” there for the birth of their baby “Sofia”...
... Both of the kids want to continue their STUDIES, to try to build a better future for themselves and their kid... Realizing the good intentions of their kids, both of the mothers (who’d been against the relationship between their children) start to ACCEPT & SUPPORT the couple...
... While a “cursory” reading of the plot may give you the impression is a “typical” one of “teen angst” or the like, it does NOT come “across” that way:
... It’s an unusually effective drama: the 2 main kids are wonderfully ”NATURAL”, charming & BELIEVABLE in their roles... And, the supporting cast is ALSO very effectual in moving the story forward...
... With all that, plus the excellent photography, I’m thus rating the film at 8.5 out of 10 stars...
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Q&A with Director ESTEBAN RAMIREZ
... After the good-sized audience gave hearty applause to the film, Johnny of the Festival staff introduced its director, ESTEBAN RAMIREZ for a Question & Answer session...
... After being asked about the story, Esteban said that it came about because of a TRUE incident: he’d read an article about how a student had complained and won her case about unfair treatment of being singled-out at a school for being pregnant...
... Since such positive happenings often “disappear” in time, he felt what had happened would be a good subject for a film, & he set about writing a “fantasy” STORY based on that situation, which then became the film we’d just seen...
... Esteban responded to some questions & comments spoken in Spanish & also English... In response to a question about “why” he hadn’t shown the baby “SOPHIA” that was being born to the characters of Adriana & Edgar at the end, he explained, he’d planned to show her...
... But, at the hospital where they were filming with the young actors & their screen families, it turned out that someone had developed chicken pox (a word translated by staff member Johnny), &, since that can be very dangerous to young people, it was decided to NOT try to film such a scene with a baby...
... A young man in the crowd (who didn’t have Spanish as his 1st language) worked to use both English & Spanish to compliment Mr. Ramirez for the “good job” he’d done of filming the scenery and images in the film...
... Sincerely pleased to hear that, he commented on how “I really love my country and want to SHOW my country” to the world, which is why he worked hard to try to show various sights and sounds of areas around San Jose...
... When asked, Esteban said no, this is NOT his 1st film, he’d previously made “CARIBE” in the south of the country. But, that was a very different kind of film, concentrating on the rain forest area there...
... I myself commented on how wonderfully NATURAL his two young leads had been in their roles, & asked about their background in acting, whether they’d been child film performers or the like. Esteban said no, they were basically FIRST-time movie actors:
... He’d interviewed like 1500 people, and Edgar had been the 40th male he’d seen for the role of Teo. He liked his “attitude”, sort of nutty and enthusiastic with a passion to act, which is why he eventually chose him for it... Adriana was someone he’d been impressed with after seeing her in a little theater performance... They both want to do MORE acting...
... The movie had been shown in COSTA RICA, & he (& all the actors) were thrilled that it was the most POPULAR film playing at the time, even beating thre gross for “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”!...
... After some other complimentary statements were made by the audience, I asked, how long had it taken to do the movie?...
... Esteban replied that, there had been 6 weeks of shooting, following 1½ years of writing and planning the film. He then spent like 8 months (I think it was) doing POST-production work, which he feels is a vital part of the process. When he sees the completed product, he feels that “it’s WORTH it” for all the time and effort expended on the project!...
... With pride, Esteban revealed that his film had just been bought by HBO to be the FIRST Central American film ever shown on that network, & the audience applauded upon hearing that (happy for his having such a success)...
... After the formal Q&A session, so the next film could be set up in theater # 4, everyone left the auditorium... But Esteban happily talked more to people out in the HALLWAY, graciously even posing for photos with a number of people (as shown in the example below)...
... When I asked about possible FUTURE film projects he may have, Esteban revaled that he has such a venture being planned: it’ll be a comparatively “major” one, & will be about the guy [President José Figueres Ferrer] who abolished the ARMY in Costa Rica [on December 1, 1948, after a civil war]... I commented, it sounds like a fascinating subject!...
... Esteban then was kind enough to pose for a photo I took of him wiith a poster for tonite’s film (as shown at the start of this Q&A section), for which I thanked him & wished him well on his upcoming projects...
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I am just about to watch the movie on HBO and wanted to know if it was worth my time and I can say this summary definitely makes me want to see it even if it is to see more of Costa Rica. Thanks!
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