By Roger Costa
Emerging Mexican Writer-editor-director Sebastian Hofmann’s sophomore feature “Time Share (Tiempo Compartido)” debuted at Sundance last weekend and is up for the Grand Jury Prize as a contender in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
A young wealthy family arrives at a promising brand new resort intending to reassure the importance of family-time, but as soon as they set foot there, they find disturbance by another family who were wrongly booked for the same condo. Without any options, as the resort is completely packed, they are literally obliged to share their reservation, allowing the strangers into their vacation home. To sort things out, the management will provide some privileges, as they are part of the resort’s program called “TimeShare”- created to help families evaluate their time spending and sharing. The element serves as a metaphor for its contradiction: the privileged group of middle class and rich people attending the resort’s opening is actually suffering similar symptoms of individualism, openly demonstrating their disinterest to share anything, neither time, space nor possessions.
A young prolific award-winning editor, visual artist and creator of the popular web comedy show ‘Los Micro Burgueses’, director Hofmann brilliantly exercises and improves his characteristic style of analyzing societal clashes, economical divisions, bureaucratic hypocrisy, corporations manipulation and individual greed with total control of his project. He uses a smart technique of dividing the focus into two male-studies developing throughout the occurrence of two events: the family program “TimeShare”, and a workshop convention held for the resort’s employees.
In the first one, Pedro is the mirror for the director’s criticism on modern behavior, a self-centered, fragile man who sees his vacation turning into a surreal, literally physical nightmare as he becomes the main piece of a company’s game; and then, there’s Andres, a recently separated employee who is going through a mental treatment dealing with a loss, while struggling to remain professional to his duties. They are both consumed by jealousy with the arrival of a handsome American executive who leads the conference. Both men increasingly fear his influence over the wives, elevating their patriarchal insecurity. Hofmann narrates Pedro’s perspectives with debaucherous surrealism, a formula that could be described as a bizarre encounter between Lynch and Bunuel, while Andres’ mysterious drama with boss and wife, is built with suspenseful, ambiguous elements, slightly influenced by Hitchcock’s elegance. The actors deserve many praises for their impeccable performances, Luis Gerardo Méndez as Pedro is convincingly funny with all his anxiety, and Miguel Rodarte as Andres, conceives a magnetic, creepy, quite awkward servant.
This modest, yet superbly efficient production, is crafted as a labor of love with its narrative techniques, offering great examples of other young artists’ inventive skills, such as the haunting surf music by Giorgio Giampà, the colorful production design by Claudio Ramirez Castelli, all highlighted by the stylish cinematography by Matias Penachino who captures exquisite architectural angles, contemplative and mysterious shots of corridors, rooms and hallways, and metaphorical figures subtly appearing throughout the story, such as the intrusive flamingo. He also efficiently translates ordinary situations into inventive captivating images: the disruptive/relaxing mood of vacation, the reflections of the pool’s waters, the dark colors of the laundry room, and neon lights of the gloomy mosquito-infested nights.
Ballistically funny, Hofmann conceived an allegoric portrait of contemporary bourgeois society and its affinities, such as sipping on margheritas, feeding their puppies some hot-dogs, children jumping into the pool, not to mention their ego dilemmas. A hilarious look at the benefits and fragility of being wealthy with fabulously sharp dark humor and complete control of the criticism on the middle-class’ reliability and profound trust on their capital status.
“Time Share” (2018-Company: PIANO. Website: http://somospiano.com E-mail andrea@somospiano.com)
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