Lingua Franca is a 2019 drama film directed by Isabel Sandoval, who also plays the main character. From IMDB, the summary reads, “An undocumented Filipina transwoman falls in love in Brooklyn.”
Note: this conversation contains spoilers for the entire movie.
em
So you know how sometimes you see the summary and reviews for a film, and you go, “Hey, that sounds super cool, and right up my alley, I bet it’s going to be great!” and then when you actually watch it, while there’s nothing, like, super egregiously wrong with it, you just didn’t really enjoy it?
Yeah, that’s kind of how Lingua Franca is for me right now.
Some of the performances were genuinely great (especially Isabel Sandoval’s Olivia), and I get what Sandoval was trying to accomplish — and I wouldn’t even say she didn’t accomplish it — but… the film was honestly just… uh, overly long and, dare I say it, kind of boring.
Myriam
Yes I agree! This movie felt so long, and a lot of it was scenes that didn’t even really need to be there in my opinion. (Especially the long cuts.)
Like the “Olga peeling an orange” scene was… Okay at the start, but I think adding it in a second time at the end was a little bit… Well, frankly, I genuinely thought the movie had ended and automatically started over on my end.
em
Yes! Like, I get a lot of these were cinematic techniques used very often in arthouse/indie films, like the bookended scenes and the long, slow cuts to illustrate mood, but it frankly made the movie feel like it was dragging on when it actually wasn’t that long of a movie!
It also didn’t help that the film was graded in an extremely dark way, especially in pivotal scenes, making it very difficult to make anything out when the film is hitting its (purported) emotional high notes. I know this was partly intentional, but, come on, there has to be a way to illustrate the general moody atmosphere of a scene while also being able to actually, you know, see what’s going on, right?
Myriam
LOL! I also… really didn’t like the love interest… If we want to talk about the all very prominent Cis White Man now. I think that it was supposed to be the point of the movie to have him unlikeable, but I can’t not talk about how… Unbelievably white and cis he was.
em
Yes, ditto.
A lot of this movie was me going, “OK, I know this was the point of the movie, but I still don’t like it,” haha.
Like, OK, quick recap — the film is about undocumented Filipino immigrant Olivia, who works as a caretaker for an old Russian woman Olga who is suffering from dementia. Olga’s grandson Alex arrives from… wherever at the beginning of the film to help look after his grandmother and get an actual job. He and Olivia begin a relationship without Alex knowing that she’s trans. When he finds out, he doesn’t take it very well (😠) but eventually warms up to the idea (🙄) and offers to marry her to help her get a visa. Her response isn’t actually in the film, but it’s heavily implied that she ends up rejecting him, thankfully.
Now, on paper, Alex doesn’t sound as awful as he actually was in the film. Like… the film spends a lot of time hanging out with Alex and his friends, and they are the most annoying group of cis straight white dudes ever. Like talking gross shit about women, transphobic comments galore, the whole nine yards.
I know all this was intentional to show, like, the real life transphobia trans folks face, but it still made for a very frustrating watch.
Myriam
Don’t forget that he stole her passport?
em
YES. I still can’t get over that. Like, from a Doylist perspective, that’s a fine plot point to introduce conflict to the film. But from a Watsonian perspective, like… WTF, dude, why would you do this??
And then he even went as far as to lie about a person in a ski mask stealing it instead?? Potentially making her even more paranoid??
He is a terrible person.
Myriam
YES! While she was obviously in distress, he makes up this… UNCONVINCING AT BEST LIE about some ski-mask-guy breaking into her house!!
em
Yeah, this is literally a woman who lives in fear of ICE raids every day of her life, and he just… makes up some bullshit about a rando stealing her passport instead of coming clean? I have no idea what kind of convoluted justification he gave himself for this.
And I think that’s another issue with the film, where the “love interest” is so unlikable, even if it was the point, that I was so completely not invested in their relationship, and since their relationship makes up a good chunk of the film, I ended up not being invested in most of the film itself, unfortunately.
Myriam
Yes! I understand what they were trying to do, but if they could’ve given him… some redeeming qualities, at the start at least.
Or just shown more of Olga! I would’ve watched an hour and a half of Olga being… Olga. And I think it’d have been slightly more interesting /half joking
em
I agree. There were a lot of other interesting characters that I felt the film could’ve focused on a bit more to pad the runtime instead of those long, slow cuts, and it would’ve been stronger for it! Like, for instance, Olivia’s friend Trixie, who is also a fellow undocumented trans Filipino immigrant. The brief glimpse we had of their childhood together was way more interesting than all the time we spent with cis straight white dude.
Myriam
YES! Literally, anyone but him. 😂
I think like, honestly, their relationship didn’t even need to be the main focus of the movie for it to work. Maybe I’m also speaking from an aspec perspective when I say that, though.
em
LOL well we are fellow aspecs critiquing a film! So I definitely agree with you. I actually think the movie would’ve been stronger if it focused on Olivia herself rather than her relationship with him, and instead left him in the background.
I would’ve spent a lot less time checking out new video game discounts while the film was playing, at least. 😂
Myriam
Also the part where they showed a sex scene while he was reading erotica to his grandma was weird, imo
em
Oh yes, the sexual fantasy sex scene. And at that point they barely even knew each other!
And then later they have an actual, actual sex scene that wasn’t just imaginary, and it was so long. So. Long.
I think I’m too ace for this movie. 😂
Myriam
LOL YES SAME! We’re simply too ace!
em
LOL yes! Like I wouldn’t say this film was bad, but it really, really wasn’t for me.
Myriam
Yes I think someone… More allo, and maybe more into this sort of film, would enjoy it worlds more.
em
Yeah, it did review well, so there are definitely people out there who liked it.
So, are we ready for ratings/final thoughts now? (Wow, it really feels like nothing much actually happens in this film, huh?)
Myriam
I think so! What’s your review?
em
Hm, a… 5/10, I guess…
I enjoyed it less than that, but I feel bad for rating something so clearly this earnest any lower than that.
What about you?
Myriam
I’d say…
10/10 Acting
2/10 Color Grading
0/10 Love Interest
em
LOL back to the three-point grading, I see!
Myriam
The 2 in Color grading is because we could only see about 2 out of 10 of the things happening on screen. /light hearted /joke
em
LMAO
OK, OK, any other final thoughts before we wrap?
Myriam
Don’t trust cis-white-men when they say someone in a ski-mask snuck in and stole your passport.
em
Yes, don’t trust cis white men period.
Myriam
This. ^^
Sincerely, Queers. 