Querido Trópico

Directed by Ana Endara, Querido Trópico follows a pregnant Colombian immigrant (Jenny Navarrete’s Ana María) as she lands a job caring for a wealthy businesswoman (Paulina García’s Mercedes) suffering from early onset dementia. It’s a spare premise that’s employed to equally spare yet mostly compelling effect by Endara, as the filmmaker, armed with her and Pilar Moreno’s screenplay, delivers a deliberately-paced character study that benefits substantially from Navarrete’s engaging, sympathetic turn as the lonely central character – with the eventual bond that forms between her and García’s figure heightening the watchable vibe. And while Endara admittedly does, from time to time, push the slow-moving aesthetic to its breaking point, Querido Trópico, bolstered by an almost impressively surprising twist at around the 40 minute mark, generally comes off as a solid drama that packs a far more pronounced emotional punch than one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****