Thursday Till Sunday

What does the world look like through the innocent eyes of a young girl?

This is the question raised by Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor Castillo who places Lucia (played with natural charm by 13 year-old Santi Ahumada) with her dysfunctional family in a claustrophobic car journey from Santiago to the dusty and arid North of Chile.

We watch as Lucia (very) slowly pieces together the reality of the increasingly tense relationship between her parents. The journey acts as a catalyst and it becomes apparent that this may well be the last family holiday that Lucia will share with both her mother, father and younger brother.

The pacing is slow and as the beautiful Chilean landscapes outside the car window become dry and hostile, so too does the atmosphere within the vehicle. This is one area in which the film delivers with gusto -- the passion that Castillo obviously has for the Chilean scenery is clearly translated onto the film.

Castillo takes her time peeling back the layers of the plot. She does not rush and does not hold the viewer by the hand. However, this was my main issue with the film, despite traveling a large portion of Chile I did not feel that there was enough of an emotional journey in “Thursday till Sunday”. Realism is key but I feel the film suffers for it.

In conclusion, this movie is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s brave, original and beautifully shot and is collecting numerous awards from film festivals. However, it’s also slow, quiet and frankly not as clever as I think Dominga Sotomayor Castillo mistakenly believes it to be.