Bonsai

Year: 2011
Country: CHILE, FRANCE, ARGENTINA, PORTUGAL
Run Time: 95 minutes

This is a story about love, but this is not a love story. A quirky and sarcastic dark comedy, BONSÁI documents the life and death of the love shared between Emilia and Julio. Divided into chapters, this film non-linearly goes back and forth between the present and eight years prior, when the two first met. A credulous, naïve young couple, Emilia and Julio cross paths in college and instantly embark on a passionate journey of literature and sex. Fast-forward to eight years later where we follow a broken, semi-single Julio as he begins writing the story of their relationship, deceptively under the name of a famous author. The reasoning for their parting remains unexplained through most of the film. However, the parting itself creates a lingering feeling of doubt and anticipation as we watch the two fall deeper in love. An adaptation of Alejandro Zambra's acclaimed novella of the same title, BONSÁI metaphorically reflects on Proust's Remembrance of Things Past to chronicle the fated story of two young lovers. (In Spanish with subtitles) – M.M.

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