Lina Rodgriuez populates her film So Much Tenderness with interpreters, government agent, people of different ethnicities in Canada’s complex mosaic. Within that mosaic are refugees who have to shape shift in order to fit in. One of those refugees is Aurora (Noëlle Schönwald), a Colombian who had to smuggle herself to Canada, whose work as an environmental lawyer becomes too much.
Unemployment in Colombia is lower that it was but it’s still high enough for her cousins to go against her and kill her husband. In Canada, she has to prove that her life in Colombia is too dangerous, and after proving those circumstances, she has to, as I wrote above, shape shift into a teacher, a daycare worker, and a mother to a relatively well-balanced young woman, Lucia (Natalia Aranguren). This juggling act becomes more complex as she spots one of those cousins while riding the subway.
Tenderness does have some pacing issues. I’m treading sensitive ground here since it feels like the Lucia storyline is autobiographical, but many of her scenes feel unnecessary, especially the subplot involving her relationship with a Canadian man named John (Brad Deane, also the film’s producer).
Nonetheless, Aurora and Lucia spend a lot of time together and Tenderness makes its viewers feel the warmth between these characters as well as the possible factors that might make their relationship fissure, like the secrets Aurora is hiding from Lucia. One photograph can make Lucia ask questions Aurora prefer not to answer. Compelling, mysterious stuff.
- Release Date: 9/10/2022
