Agarrame fuerte

Losing a loved one can be a highly traumatic experience, and, consequently, letting go can be an exceedingly difficult experience, something to which many of us can probably relate. So it is for Adela (Chiara Hourcade) when her longtime friend, Elena (Victoria Jorge), passes away at an untimely young age. She puts up a good front at Elena’s wake, but, once the event is over, she loses it, crying profusely in the privacy of her car. However, in a moment of seemingly divine intervention, she spots a bus with a lighted destination sign that literally feels like a sign in itself, prompting her to willingly exit her vehicle and board the bus. Subsequently, the bus transports her back in time to an autumn weekend getaway in the country, where she and her friend, along with a third colleague, Luci (Eve Dans), relive the good times they shared together, a quasi-surrealistic experience tinged with passing supernatural overtones. Adela is overjoyed to be in Elena’s company once again, but what happens when the weekend comes to an end? Can she let go now that she’s had this experience, or is the loss still too painful to separate (and, if so, what then)? As intriguing as this premise might sound, however, the narrative is all over the map. The significance underlying the two friends’ relationship is never adequately explained, hinting at times that there may be more going on here than is made clear. And, as for the weekend’s happenings, they feel as though they’re a collection of unrelated random events strung together, implying a relevance that is never made particularly apparent. What’s more, if this is supposed to be about the bond between Adela and Elena, what is Luci’s presence for? Moreover, the occasional inclusion of a voiceover narration to provide background comes across like a feeble attempt at trying to “explain” things, given that the onscreen developments never seem to adequately do this in themselves. As a result, this film feels more like a haphazard sisterhood gathering, a sorority party than a story with any real direction or meaning. That’s a shame, especially since the picture’s opening segment at the wake introduces an array of colorful supporting characters who tell a variety of “Elena stories” that evoke myriad emotions, from laughter to sadness to joy for having known her. Unfortunately, nothing is done with this material once Adela ventures into her time travel journey (an experience that, in itself, is also never made especially clear or how it’s brought about). Thus this latest offering from the writing-directing duo of Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge plays more like a confounding enigma than anything else, a picture that seems to assume viewers are in on the back story of these characters without ever really explaining itself. Since those insights are never relayed, the effect of the story here is more mystifying and bewildering than cogently conveyed, in large part due to the film’s scant, underdeveloped 1:11:00 runtime. It’s even more baffling how this release ended up being named Uruguay’s official selection in the best International Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards (I can only assume the field of eligible candidates must have been rather slim this year). Dealing with grief is too important a subject to receive the kind of casual, unfocused, lazy treatment it has been accorded here, Regrettably, though, that’s what “Don’t You Let Me Go” serves up, and it’s clearly not up to the task. Elena and Adela deserve better than this.