SummaryMiddle-aged Magdalena (Mercedes Hernandez) has lost contact with her son after he took off with a friend from their town of Guanajuato to cross the border into the U.S., hopeful to find work. Desperate to find out what happened to him—and to know whether or not he’s even alive—she embarks on an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous journey to... Read More
Directed By:Fernanda Valadez
Written By:Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero
Identifying Features
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
85
User score
Generally Favorable
6.9
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
85
100% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jan 22, 2021
100
Hypnotic and heartbreaking, Identifying Features is a feature debut to marvel at, but only once you’re able to shake off the bone-deep chills emanating from Mexican filmmaker Fernanda Valadez’s disorienting tale of a mother’s search for her missing son.
Jan 20, 2021
100
Some movies wound us so profoundly that once darkness has consumed their final frame we are incapable of shaking off the heartache. That’s the power of Identifying Features, which is as painfully intimate as it is unsparing in its indictment of a country ravaged by a corrosive, entrenched evil.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.9
70% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
10% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
20% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Dec 13, 2021
10
"Todos nos parecemos de espaldas", cuando se van, todos aspiran a lo mismo y todos esperan lograrlo.
Sin Señas Particulares, ganadora del Ariel a mejor largometraje y galardonada en el Festival de Sundance llega para quedarse como una de las mejores películas mexicanas hasta el momento. Hermosamente dirigida, actuada, escrita y fotografiada con un trasfondo totalmente desolador, melancólico e inhumano.
Incluso haciendo referencia al Purgatorio, al infierno y al Diablo mismo, estas de maneras sutiles y justificadas para el desarrollo de la trama, las cuales le agregan un valor narrativo muy interesante a la película.
Está llena de elementos, personajes secundarios y lugares donde ocurre la historia, y todo se siente realmente orgánico, natural y son momentos que uno como mexicano reconoce y debe tener cuidado, aspecto que yo lo definiría como tener una paranoia sana. Pero la situación por la cual pasan estas personas es llevada al extremo hasta el punto de sentirse que estas en el Infierno en la Tierra, aun así, mostrándonos que, bajo esas circunstancias, las personas aún pueden mostrar bondad y empatía unas con las otras.
Lamentablemente esta película no puede estar más lejos de la realidad y refleja realmente lo peligroso y desamparado que es la migración.
Feb 26, 2021
10
The movie takes its time, and unfolds very well at the end. Visually it had some brilliant scenes and shots.
Jan 19, 2021
88
The film is as much about the act of seeing and observing as it is about not seeing, about struggling to recognize that which might not clarify much at all.
Jan 21, 2021
80
It’s a confident debut feature, and a sophisticated acknowledgment of the powerlessness that migrants face.
Nov 12, 2020
80
Subdued in tone and stoic in its approach to the dangers that can decimate an entire community, Identifying Features is admirable in its restraint, and all the more powerful because of it.
Jan 26, 2021
75
The movie ultimately seems to suggest that the evils unleashed upon Mexico come from a place beyond humankind, which seems an easy way out after all Magdalena and Miguel have been put through. That said, this remains a terrifying cinematic vision that can’t be ignored, from a young filmmaker who won’t be.
Jan 20, 2021
70
A film that straddles the line between artful and arty like this one isn’t designed for a wide public. There are moments that are striking, even if the their impact is muddied by a minimalism that at times feel pretentious. “Features” is ultimately worth the sit, but it needn’t have required quite so much effort.
Aug 7, 2021
9
Seeing 'Identifying Features' is shocking not only because of the harshness of its story but also because of everything it reminds of: endless news of found graves, hanging bodies, or mass kidnappings to swell the ranks of the drug traffickers. Few portraits of violence in Mexico are as accurate as this one; Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero show great respect for the victims by not creating a spectacle of misfortune. And yet, his minimalist story has an unusual power. 'Identifying Features' is, without a doubt, one of the most valuable Mexican films of the 21st century; and the film should win the most important Ariel awards, not to mention that it must be chosen to represent the country next year at the Oscars.
Feb 23, 2021
7
When the teenage son of a middle-aged Mexican mother goes missing while en route to the US to find work, she's determined to find out what happened to him, despite official reports that he was killed by gangs roaming the country's rural highways. Her perilous odyssey proves to be quite an experience, more incredible than she ever could have imagined. Such are the makings of this chilling, sinister road trip mystery through the wilds of rural Mexico, one that literally and symbolically portrays the evil inherent in the nation's crime crisis. Although the film drags a bit in the middle and occasionally has inadequate subtitling, the picture's closing act provides quite a payoff, one that, like much of the production, is depicted with exquisite, if unsettling, cinematography. Director Fernanda Valadez's debut feature is a meticulously crafted offering that provides viewers with an inside look into a deeply worrisome problem, one that should give pause to anyone watching it -- or considering a trip through the Mexican countryside.
Production Company:
- Avanti Pictures
- Corpulenta Producciones
- EnAguas Cine
- Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad (FOPROCINE)
- Nephilim Producciones
Release Date:Jan 22, 2021
Duration:1 h 35 m
Awards
Ariel Awards, Mexico
• 9 Wins & 16 Nominations
Premios Canacine, MX
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
San Sebastián International Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
