The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
bmp_2009

Review: Lake Tahoe

Tired tropes
By GERALD PEARY  |  June 3, 2009
2.5 2.5 Stars


VIDEO: The trailer for Lake Tahoe

It's a tough time for Mexican teen Juan (Diego Cataño): his dad died recently, his mom is angry and depressed, and his younger sister is needy and lonely. And it gets worse when he smashes the family car (the film's title comes from a tourist sticker on it) and faces a long day of getting someone in his slow-moving town to fix it.

Filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke relies too much on the tired tropes of international arthouse cinema: long, long takes and cuts to black; a deadpan, passive, monosyllabic protagonist; a mosquito bite of a story.

At least the semi-comatose narrative is enlivened by the secondary characters; these include a punk-singing, cigarette-puffing teenage single mom who's the sole employee of an auto-parts store and a bike-riding auto mechanic who swears by martial-arts movies and pithy quotes from Bruce Lee.

Related: Review: The Girlfriend Experience, Review: Chandni Chowk to China, Review: Waltz With Bashir, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Bruce Lee (Actor), Diego Catano, Entertainment,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

-->
ARTICLES BY GERALD PEARY
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: GERALD PEARY

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group