Suddenly

A fantastic feature debut from Argentina's Diego Lerman, Suddenly ignores traditional cinematic rhythms, playing more like a South American version of Jim Jarmusch's oddball Stranger Than Paradise, with kooky humor naturally arising from deadpan situations. At first seeming like a sullen, apathetic black-and-white road movie, Suddenly revolves around a frumpy, self-conscious teenage shop girl Marcia (Tatiana Saphir), who is kidnapped by a pair of young, shorthaired, short-pants-wearing lesbians calling themselves Mao (Carla Crespo) and Lenin (Veronica Hassan). Mao claims that she's fallen in love with Marcia at first sight and wants to sleep with her, but after discovering that the latter has never been to the beach, the abductors steal a taxi and take her there, after which the trio--in their newly reconfigured relationship--decide to visit Lenin's aunt Blanca (Beatriz Thibaudin). Plenty could have gone wrong in a coming-of-age story like this, from quasi-poetic soul-searching and navel-gazing, to gooey visuals and tinkly music, to awkward sexual awakenings. Happily, Lerman avoids all of this, finding a lovely balance between the heartfelt and the quirky. Highly recommended. (J.M. Anderson)