Too Late to Die Young

The semi-autobiographical drama from Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor's, set in an artist commune in the hills of the Andes, unfolds over the days leading up to New Year's celebration of 1990. 16-year-old Sofia (Demian Hernández) is tired of life with cut off from the world with her artist father. She's attracted to Ignacio, an older boy with a motorcycle and plan to flee the commune, while Lucas, a boy her own age, has eyes only for her. While they struggle with their emotions and yearnings and frustrations, the younger kids play like it's summer vacation. The politics are never discussed and the sunny, off-the-grid community (December is summer in the Southern Hemisphere) could be out of time as far as American viewers are concerned but for Chileans, it was a momentous time; these are the last days of the Augusto Pinoche dictatorship and the hope for a new democratic government is in the air. The ideals of the commune, however, are contradicted in the behaviors of the adults—there are broken marriages and affairs and even a break-in at one of the homes—and when a dead horse poisons their water supply, the metaphor is clear. But Sotomayor puts that all in the background as she focuses on the kids and teenagers and the slow pace of life in the hills. It's lovely and delicate coming of age drama and Sotomayor's attention to the performances of the young cast and the details of their day-to-day lives casts a spell over the film. The DVD also features an audience Q&A with filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor (conducted in English) from a screening in New York City. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)