Karla Badillo’s Oca seems to have an ethos that more is more but delivers that through deliberate pacing. Viewers get that ‘more’ through Rafaela (Natalia Solián), a nun in an almost isolated convent in Mexico. One of her sisters assigns her to travel by motorcycle to meet an archbishop to ask for much needed funding. Along the way she meets characters like Rogelia (Cristel Guadalupe), part of a band of penitent pilgrims. She also separately meets a military officer, Gabriel (Leonardo Ortizgris) and his bourgeois mistress Palmira (Cecilia Suarez). The film shows these characters even when they’re not with Rafaela, capturing their struggles within their own worlds. What seems like an expansion of her short film, it also lets these characters examine some moral quandaries.

An ensemble piece, Oca seems to have an interest in its characters’ morality instead of their motivation. Seems odd, brecause all characters have motivations, especially here when they’re perpetually in transit through a subtly dreamy landscape. The humour here is subtle here though, especially in its choice of secular music within ‘holy’ narratives. It’s also worth mentioning that the images here are clear as day, important in this fever dream film. There’s also kind of a distorted hall of mirrors effect here where others look at strange Rafaela. There are a few references here to surrealist art, reminding viewers of landscapes that inspired artists like Dali. While watching this film, one can sense its quintessential Mexicanness without the stereotypes that one may think of.