By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Floyd Russ
Starring: Ariana Ron Pedrique | Caesar Hartman | Calliah Sophie Estrada | Henry Foster Brown | Simon Haycock | Vilma Vega
Country: united_states
Year: 2021
Running time: 84
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14037884/reference
Michael says: “AYAR is an experimental, compelling film that blends the real life stories of the actors involved, with a fictional narrative about three generations of immigrant women exploring complex mother/daughter relationships and the difficult choices that they face. Ayar wants to attend her daughter’s fifth birthday party. She gets a cake, a balloon, and heads over to her mother’s home where the party is underway. When she arrives, Ayar’s mother, Renata tells her family to take the girl inside, while she confronts her daughter, telling her to leave. It turns out that Ayar left her daughter in Renata’s care five years ago when she headed to Vegas with a man who wanted to make her a singing star. It’s a tense, emotional confrontation, made all the more charged because of the COVID-19 pandemic the characters are dealing with. As the film unfolds, not only do we see flashbacks of Ayar’s life in Vegas, and scenes showing Ayar stuck at a motel where the woman next door violently coughs, and roots starts to take over the walls of her room, but we see vignettes of the supporting characters, and how they go to where they are in the film, using snapshots and direct-to-camera conversations. Most interestingly, the film features brief sequences when the two lead actresses are interviewed about their own life experiences and how some version of their lives ended up becoming the basis for the film’s narrative. This melange of family drama, pandemic horror story, and behind-the-scenes making of a film documentary come together to create something unique and compelling.
“Director Floyd Russ takes some bold chances that succeed in making AYAR stand out from a pack of other similarly-themed films. His blend of documentary, drama and magical realism keep the audience engaged, and his work with the two lead actresses is a huge boon to the film. Ariana ron Redrique’s Ayar is an emotionally dramatic mess, trying desperately to correct the mistakes she has made and reconnect, not only with her daughter, but her mother. She’s a powerful screen presence that is difficult to loo away from. Vilma Vega as Renata is also sure-footed, and as we learn from her interview, lived the story that Ayar is going through in the film. Both actresses make their narrative film debuts with AYAR, and it would be a shame if they didn’t get lots of great work from these performances. Supporting characters are also strong, particularly Henry Foster Brown, as another guest in the motel at which Ayar is stuck, who provides her with a compassionate ear and has troubles of his own. 4 cats“