Ashes

Ashes doesn’t feel like a typical immigration tale, not because of where it takes place, but because of the nuance of emotion that fuels it.

A compassionate, clear-eyed study of a young woman searching for a place to call home, Ashes is driven by Anna Diaz’s evocative performance which expresses a world of discontent through the simplest of glances.

We’re not sure Lucila is a fighter, but she’s a survivor. And over the course of the film, she learns many life lessons in a very short time. So when Diaz finally lets Lucila’s joy or pain cry out, it strikes you. And sticks with you.

With the help of some sterling actors that include Adriana Paz and Anna Diaz, he takes a small story, tells it without much embellishment and lets the results speak to the state of a fractured and hardhearted world.

The film plays out like a tale where too much has been relegated to the margins and left between the cuts, where the performances shine but their emotional foundations have been laid in reverse.

Based on a well-regarded novel by Brenda Navarro, it’s a wafty character study so stripped down and elliptical that it lacks the connective tissue to hook us into its story or provide emotional access to its characters.