Gente De Bien
[rating=3]
by Mark Wilshin
The moving tale of a young boy being passed from pillar to post during the Christmas holidays, Franco Lolli’s Gente De Bien is a gentle mood piece, as young Eric and his dog Lupe go to live with his father when his mother moves away. Struggling to make ends meet, Eric’s father Gabriel mends furniture for Maria Isabel – a rich and compassionate mother who hands down her son’s outgrown cast-offs and even offers to take Eric in until Gabriel gets back on his feet. It’s a delicate study of a boy’s alienation, the unbridgeable gap between rich and poor and the awkward complexity of charity, but with an unresolved (albeit moving) ending, Gente De Bien doesn’t quite know how to end its narrative of estranged fathers and sons.
Gente De Bien is showing on Oct 13th & 15th at the 58th BFI London Film Festival
