(DON’T KNOW) HOW TO BE — Spanish title (NO SÉ) CÓMO SER — finds its coronary heart the place laughter meets existential disaster. The brand new function from director Salvador Espinosa (Membership de Cuervos, El Vato) and writer-star Tato Alexander (Non Negociable, Can’t Give up Mother) premieres within the U.S. on the Austin Movie Pageant on October 25 and 29, following its world premiere on the Morelia Worldwide Movie Pageant.
Introduced by IDA Movies, the 85-minute dramedy unfolds over one night, as a millennial couple and his boomer dad and mom conflict in a home filled with expectations, unfinished conversations, and an unforgettable cat named Brad Pitt.
“The film doesn’t intention to show, however to spark an sincere and humorous dialog about how we place ourselves in relation to present points,” says Espinosa.
When id meets absurdity
Requested what impressed them to discover the theme of not figuring out methods to be, Alexander is blunt:
“Exactly that very same obsession—and the frustration of feeling like now we have to slot in a field.”
The movie’s tone dances between discomfort and humor.
Uncover the surprising now
“We at all times knew we needed to make a humorous movie,” Espinosa explains, “however for us it was vital that you simply felt a bit uncomfortable because the movie glided by.”
Constructing a artistic shorthand
Espinosa and Alexander beforehand teamed up on Guadalupe Reyes, You’ve Bought This, and The Dad Quest.
“Greater than evolving, we preserve discovering how aligned we’re,” Alexander says. “That’s crucial for making a stable artistic partnership.”
A theater-born intimacy
The mission’s intimacy got here from rehearsal.
“We rehearsed like a stage manufacturing,” says Espinosa. “The actors actually lived the characters on set, shaping very sincere performances.”
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The dinner that detonates the whole lot
The dinner scene—the place the household’s façade fractures—was at all times meant because the movie’s ignition level.
“That was at all times the thought,” Espinosa says. “To make that scene a turning level for Majo, and to point out the problems effervescent just below the floor.”
On Brad Pitt, the cat
“The cat’s identify, Brad Pitt, is supposed to represent sure Western values,” Alexander laughs. “Its dying reminds us that beliefs—and what we maintain in excessive regard—are at all times altering. Not even Brad Pitt is everlasting.”
As a comic, Alexander finds the humor in discomfort.
“Since that’s what I discover humorous in life, it turns into what I write about.”
Espinosa mirrors that visually:
“Because the night passes, the narrative model will get as chaotic because the characters’ actions.”
Although steeped in Mexican sensibility, its attain is world.
“Despite the fact that it’s a really native setup,” says Espinosa, “it’s a common film. Lots of people around the globe proper now really feel they don’t know methods to be.”
Alexander threads private reality by way of each alternate.
“Our identities and romantic relationships are formed by social and cultural values,” she notes. “Since they’re at all times altering, generational stress is inevitable.”
Mexican humor: tragedy and laughter intertwined
“Mexico has a really tragic and comedian tradition,” Espinosa displays. “We love drama, however we’re additionally very blissful and humorous individuals. Comedy and disaster coexist naturally.”
What they hope we take away
“We’d love for individuals to stroll out questioning the concepts—previous or new—that we preserve carrying even after they don’t actually serve us,” says Alexander. “Hopefully it sparks conversations about who we actually are and what we really want, as an alternative of simply how we’re presupposed to suppose.”
(DON’T KNOW) HOW TO BE is distributed by IDA Movies and Filmmaker, starring Tato Alexander, Memo Villegas, Arcelia Ramírez, Gerardo Trejoluna, and Flor Benitez.