The Other Tom.

Directed by Rodrigo Plá and Laura Santullo, The Other Tom. follows a blue-collar single mother (Julia Chávez’s Elena) as she attempts to handle her wildly out of control nine-year-old son (Israel Rodríguez Bertorelli’s Tom). Filmmakers Plá and Santullo, working from their own screenplay, deliver an exceedingly deliberate kitchen-sink drama that fares best in its low-key yet mostly watchable first act, as the picture boasts a gritty, authentic atmosphere that initially goes a long way towards smoothing over its rough-around-the-edges elements (including sporadically amateurish work from the two leads). There’s little doubt, however, that The Other Tom. eventually progresses into a repetitive midsection that’s exacerbated by the far-from-sympathetic nature of both Chávez and Bertorelli’s respective protagonists (ie it’s impossible not to wonder, ultimately, if the picture is meant to operate as a character study of an awful person completely out of her depth as a parent), and it’s clear, certainly, that the lack of forward momentum paves the way for an arms-length second half riddled with sluggish stretches – although Plá and Santullo, at least, manage to break up the monotonous vibe with a handful of tense interludes and digressions (eg Elena makes the misguided decision to spirit Tom away from a facility for kids with similar issues). By the time the frustratingly abrupt and ambiguous finale rolls around, The Other Tom. has firmly cemented its place as a misfire that generally feels as though it could (and should) be so much better.

** out of ****