Forgotten Roads

Cinema loves youth. As a medium, it absolutely loves to visually depict people in the early prime of life. This is especially true for women. Constantly we see an actor in his 60’s with a wife in her 30’s. Within WLW films, this is true too. The sapphic cinematic canon would have you believe that lesbianism is a young woman’s game. Forgotten Roads is here to remind you this isn’t true. So many experiences that cinema primarily assigns to young people are in fact, universal. Forgotten Roads feels tragically unique just because of its focus on older characters.

Forgotten Roads is also unique because there may or may not be aliens in it. In a small town in Chile, unexplained lights occur. Some believe it’s a religious thing. Some believe it’s aliens. Lead character Claudina doesn’t really care either way. She’s got bigger issues. Her husband has just died. Unable to drive or manage the house by herself, Claudina moves in with her daughter. Claudina doesn’t feel good about this move until she meets her neighbour. Elsa is of similar age to Claudina and offers her friendship. Claudina gratefully accept and the two bond quickly. When Claudina admits her attraction to women, Elsa responds in kind. The two begin a relationship. But the town gossip isn’t kind to these senior lesbians. And Claudina’s daughter in particular hates the implications and suggestions about her mother’s relationship. Also, Elsa has a husband. Which isn’t a problem until it is.

The film is really successful on a technical level. The cinematography is purposeful and beautiful. Every shot lasts exactly as long as it should. The film feels free to linger despite its brief runtime of 71 minutes. This is the debut from writer/director Nicol Ruiz Benavides. She shows incredible talent. She has such control over this story, its pacing and how it’s shown visually. I wish I could outline more of how great her work is. But it was hard to focus on technical aspects. I was too busy having messy human emotions to pay attention to the sound design or whatever.

I can’t begin to express how strongly I felt about Forgotten Roads. It became almost hard to watch at points because I cared so much. I wanted everything for Claudina. But the film is too nuanced and intelligent for that. It hurts so much when she experiences rejection or homophobia. On the flip side, Claudina’s joy shines brighter than the sun. The scenes between her and Elsa are almost unbearably tender. This was a romance that I immediately rooted for. Partially because of the novelty of the couple being older. But also because every interaction they had was so tender, so sweet and so understanding.

Much of Forgotten Roads feel reminiscent of a coming of age film. Coming out, awkward first kisses, a tight close up on a character as we see the rapture of them watching their crush. What this film really emphasizes is that many of these experiences are in fact, universal. But cinema just loves to apply them to younger characters. These beats feel more powerful here because of the novelty Forgotten Roads allows its older characters to do so much that older people usually aren’t “allowed” to do in film. They masturbate! They go out at night and smoke pot. And they experience appallingly tender romance. Claudina even experiences homophobia from her daughter and threats that she’ll be kicked out of her daughter’s house. That specifically is a fascinating inversion proving that attitudes towards homosexuality aren’t wholly dependant on generation or youth.

Forgotten Roads is a movie that bypasses good and goes straight into great. The technical aspects are so strong. But it also has that indefinable special sauce that made me care. I emotionally connected so much to this film. I’ve seen any number of films about English speaking white 20-somethings. Perhaps I’ve seen too many. But Forgotten Roads‘ story about a Chilean Grandma spoke to me in a way almost none of those movies did. It’s such a special movie simply because it focuses on seniors. It’s a great reminder that queer women are everywhere. Sure, they’re 19 year olds living in America with asymmetrical haircuts. But they’re also retired women in rural Chile. Retired women who are too busy kissing each other to worry about the possible presence of aliens.

Overall rating: 8.5/10

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