FILM REVIEW

Robin Armstrong

Viewers of “Entre la Tarde y la Noche” (“Minerva’s Quest”) will need

rewind and fast forward to make sense of this fragmented story in which a

middle-aged writer sifts through the fables and lies of her troubled

childhood and faces her past. Although it has subtitles, Cliff Notes

would help.

Despondent over her inability to write and her failed life, Minerva

drives from the United States to her hometown of Mazatlan, Mexico, to

face the “great secret” of her youth. The trip is not a straight shot. We

bounce back and forth from the present to the past while she begins to

write about a little girl named Minerva.

Through dreams and flashbacks of her abusive father Francisco, her

granny Odilia, her “marvelous” uncle Alberto, and the nuns at Sacred

Heart School, we get a picture of her bleak childhood. The only bright

spots are when her womanizing, gambling Uncle Alberto returns home with

presents and fairy tales or when Minerva is up to no good with her best

friend Beatriz.

Woven throughout these childhood experiences are references and images

of myths -- the sirens and the sailors, Cyclops, “The Magic Flute” and

King Midas. Like in a dream, the events in the movie do not always have

an obvious significance. The special effects were rough, at best.

As the events of her childhood unfolded, I found it necessary to go

back to the beginning of the film to connect the importance of a phone

call, a fable or an image in order to understand their later

implications.

But, there is no confusing the young Minerva with the older Minerva.

The young actress is as sympathetic and engaging as the older actress is

cold and remote. Must be the accumulated years of un-addressed issues

and painful memories that pressed her into a one-dimensional, angry

character.

It is definitely not a typical Hollywood cast with perfect looking

actors. All the actors look like part of the real world, which helped

make the movie more believable.

There were some major inconsistencies in the story. It was as if the

writer lost his way, especially when telling the final ending to the

story. It was a confusing movie with very poor editing and a hard story

line to follow.

* “Entre la Tarde y la Noche” (“Minerva’s Quest”) will screen at 1:30

p.m. Saturday at Edwards Island 7 Cinemas.