El eco

El Eco is a locality of just 100 souls in the state of Puebla, less than 200 kilometres east of Mexico City. Tatiana Huezo’s film of the same name sees her return to her roots as she delves into the daily contingencies of this tiny rural town. Unfolding amidst the idyllic landscape surrounding the village—exquisitely shot by Ernesto Pardo—the individual narratives overlap and mingle with classic bucolic motifs: dreamy-eyed Monse longs for adventure as she cares for her grandmother; a young couple struggles to reconcile the husband’s jobs in a nearby city and the needs of parenting; meanwhile, their children play, ask questions, grow...
The film is primarily a sensorial account woven together in a form akin to a musical composition: a pastorale privileging texture, harmony and timbre over any clear dramaturgy; the various stories flow unassumingly, giving subtle structure to the overall cadence of this tapestry of light, colour and sound. There is an obvious tinge of fabrication to the documentary—in that sense, EL ECO ultimately demonstrates a possible way for Mexican cinema to depict its own countryside with compassion, fluidity and openness, in firm opposition to cruelty and sensationalism. (Salvador Amores)

Tatiana Huezo: TIEMPO CAUSTICO (1997, K), EL OMBLIGO DEL MUNDO (2001, K), EL LUGAR MÁS PEQUEÑO (2011), AUSENCIAS (2015, K), EL AULA VACÍA (2015), TEMPESTAD (2016), NOCHE DE FUEGO (2021)