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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
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All Critics (18) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
Fortunately, Eimbcke's laconic if fanciful storytelling strengths ring more true than his somewhat artificial and hackneyed visual style, which includes a penchant for lengthy wide-angle shots that make the world look like a feverishly alien place.
With Lake Tahoe, Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke proves himself adept at turning a blank screen into a work of art.
So different from the usual fare that it might have arrived from another galaxy.
Inspired by a childhood accident that befell director Fernando Eimbcke soon after his father's death, this low-key character study is a beguiling paradox of Mexican suburban splendor masking personal grief.
Coming down from the Saturday sugar rush of his 2006 comedy Duck Season, Mexican auteur Fernando Eimbcke's lovely, Yucatán-set dramedy drifts by on a similar deadpan wave of static vignettes and lingering pauses that must be 10 months pregnant.
It ultimately sags under the weight of its bloated silences and stagnant story line.
[Eimbcke finds] warmth, humor and grace in these ragged environments. Once we learn the cause of Juan's malaise, images we've already seen take on extraordinary significance.
[Lake Tahoe is] a small, calm movie that will take you into another world...
Eimbcke's Jarmusch-ian comedy is laced with something stronger.
An offbeat droll black comedy that worked for me in the Zen way it made its seemingly simple tale poignant and compelling in such a unique way.
If you're patient -- the beautifully composed wide-angle camerawork helps -- the reason for the protagonist's down-in-the-mouth behavior emerges, and finally from the languor comes a sweet little payoff.
Eimbcke's world -- sun-baked and lazy and almost devoid of activity or adults -- may seem aimless and pointless, but he manages a delightfully complete wrap-up and payoff.
"Lake Tahoe" starts with Juan(Diego Catano) not so much wrapping a car around a telephone pole, as lightly tapping it. While he is unharmed, the car is not. Since this is Sunday, most of the auto repair shops are closed for the day and Don Heber(Hector Herrera) thinks he is trying to rob his place of business. Eventually, Juan does manage to convince the old man of his honest intentions and in return is told what is probably wrong with the car. Now all he needs is a part which turns out to be more elusive and expensive than he had originally imagined... "Lake Tahoe" is filmed with a stationary camera, usually at a distance from the action, which is a style that usually puts me on edge. However, this time it works well with the deadpan comedy of Juan's odyssey. Even with an extreme tonal shift that occurs halfway through when a vital piece of information is nonchalantly dropped in the viewers' laps, the movie remains a bittersweet look at how we are never alone as we think we are.
Super Reviewer
I know it probably won't win any Oscars, but this is by far my favorite film of 2009 and my favorite international film of the '00 decade.
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