With new leadership and more ambitious industry initiatives , the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival has undergone an all-around expansion. This year’s event, which kicks off Wednesday and runs until Sunday, nearly doubled the number of feature films in its program. The 21 titles represent artists from across Latin America and the United States that reflect the scope of the complicated and loose concept of Latinidad, in languages that include Spanish (in its many dialects), English, Portuguese and even Mixtec.
To help you parse through the lineup, we’ve highlighted eight movies playing at LALIFF this weekend that we think offer uniquely compelling experiences. About 30 For anyone who’s ever felt adrift or behind in life, this keenly observed and inventively structured Argentine tragicomedy mines dry humor from the absurdity of social norms and its protagonist’s downhearted demeanor. Martín Shanly writes, directs and stars in the lead role, portraying Arturo, a soft-spoken, lanky man in his 30s whose inability — or unwillingness — to take charge of his own life is as frustrating (for the supporting characters) as it’s endearingly relatable.
Told by intercutting a wedding in March of 2020 with vignettes from the years that led up to Arturo’s streak of self-inflicted misfortunes, Shanly’s auspicious debut feature brilliantly taps into the anxious feeling of knowing you didn’t fulfill the expectations others had of you and lost yourself trying to.