TIFF 2025: ‘Forastera’ | ‘The Blue Trail’
When children are born, everyone always begins declaring which features they got from which side of the family. It’s impossible to avoid, as you look at your son or daughter and see the myriad of minor facial features that form a wholly unique individual. It spills out into their temperament and personality as they get older, and you remember how you were just like that as a child. This intersection of memory and family becomes a strangely hypnotic tale of accepting loss in Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’s feature directorial debut, Forastera. Subtly exploring the ways in which we find the ones we love within ourselves, Aleñar Iglesias navigates grief and absence with masterful precision and a delicate touch.
A dreamy, ethereal score, played against the backdrop of a sun-soaked family home on the Spanish island of Mallorca, introduces a beautiful setting and the unparalleled vistas that Cata (Zoe Stein) and her younger sister, Eva (Martina García), are privy to during their summer vacation. Staying with their grandparents, Catalina (Marta Angelat) and Tomeu (Lluís Homar), their serene visit is disturbed by the sudden passing of Catalina, and the sorrow washes over the family. Most noticeably affected is Tomeu, whose grief intensifies once Cata and Eva’s mother, Pepa (Núria Prims), arrives to help care for the kids. However, it’s a phone call where Cata is mistaken for her grandmother that sets off a gradual transformation that becomes a therapeutic merging of identities reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona.
The marriage between losing someone and loving someone so deeply is subtly depicted in Cata’s donning of her grandmother’s vintage summer dresses and the way she responds in conversation as if possessed by Catalina. That supernatural quality reverberates throughout Forastera. A light that flickers in the family home is jokingly referred to as a ghost in the kitchen, but once Catalina passes away, it becomes a poignant reminder of what was lost. Wisely, Aleñar Iglesias keeps things squarely centred around Cata’s transformation as a form of therapy for the bereaved and never lets the film step too far into the unknown. Cata’s action could be a slippery slope from which the film could never recover, but Aleñar Iglesias’ screenplay is acutely aware of the role of mourning in the healing process. The outcome is a graceful execution and a touching conclusion in a movie that embraces its pain to find something truly cathartic in its wake.
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival took place from September 4th to 14th. Forastera celebrated its World premiere on September 8th, as part of TIFF’s Discovery program. The full list of films selected for the festival can be found here.
As the economy becomes more challenging to grow alongside, and population concerns meet resource scarcity, Gabriel Mascaro’s The Blue Trail ponders an eerily possible scenario in its dystopian future, where the elderly are forced into mandatory retirement under the guise of a future for everyone. Mascaro’s latest work features a subdued humour and quiet introspection that gently propels its aging protagonist into the unknown, offering a journey of self-discovery that counters determinism with passion while celebrating life. A charming character drama that is timely in its science fiction-lite elements, The Blue Trail depicts a not-too-distant future that is alarmingly believable in its depiction and the human cost that ageism so easily disregards.
A government-mandated retirement has lowered the age requirement for its social program to 75 years old, which pushes Tereza (Denise Weinberg, with a wonderfully nuanced performance) out of her job at the alligator meat processing plant and into the custody of her daughter. Now deemed a National Living Heritage for her service to her country, Tereza finds she’s lost her autonomy now that the government has deemed her unfit to work. At risk of being put into the “Wrinkle Wagon”—or worse, sent to The Colony from which no one seems to return—Tereza embarks on a personal mission to fulfill items on her bucket list before she’s no longer able to conduct herself freely. After being told she can’t fly in an airplane without permission, Tereza hires a skipper to take her along the winding riverways to the nearest private airport that might disobey the government.
The film’s title is a reference to both the river where Tereza finds purpose in her life, as well as the ooze left behind by the Blue Drool Snail—a gastropod whose blue discharge is said to allow its users to see the future. It’s the certainty that a snail can bring someone that is interrogated throughout Mascaro’s aquatic road movie. As Tereza meets new people on her meandering journey through the Brazilian jungle, she discovers how people make ends meet and how they evade government scrutiny. All of which leads to a renewed sense of purpose—a life in which she is expected to settle down and “unburden” younger generations. An eclectic, jazzy score and lush visuals of Amazonian waterways, covered in a thick jungle canopy, accent a unique and resonant film that rebukes a predetermined future and celebrates life’s never-ending revelations.
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival took place from September 4th to 14th. The Blue Trail celebrated its North American premiere on September 10th, as part of TIFF’s Centrepiece program. The full list of films selected for the festival can be found here.
