Nora's Will plays with complex themes centered on family and the unfaltering bonds of love, but most of the characters seem afraid of their own emotional output. The result is a slight and meandering tragicomedy that feels listless at times, though it ultimately shows great promise for first-time writer and director Mariana Chenillo.---
The film opens on a scene of a woman preparing what appears to be an elaborate dinner party. This is Nora (Silvia Mariscal). Don't get too attached, she won't be around very long. The dinner party that Nora is so carefully arranging is actually a Passover dinner that will be held after she commits suicide.
Nora, we soon learn, is an imperious control freak who feels so little confidence in the capacities of her loved ones, that she goes to great lengths to plan her own funeral and the corresponding dinner.
Each dish is organized in specifically labeled Tupperware. Every plate is laid just so. Nora even goes so far as to set the timer on her coffeemaker in anticipation of the Rabbi who will come to make the arrangements.
It seems that Nora has thought of everything. However, all of Nora's schemes rest rather heavily on one key figure, her ex-husband José (Fernando Luján).
Fulfilling Nora's wishes shouldn't be too hard for José. Though they have been divorced for 20 years, he still keeps an apartment directly across the street. "I wanted to be close to you," José tells their son Rubén (Ari Brickman). Never mind that Rubén moved out himself 15 years ago.
José's proximity to Nora serves as one of many hints that he still harbors feelings for his ex-wife. Though most of the time he refuses to let on. When asked to fill out a questionnaire for the eulogy listing Nora's attributes, José says to the family doctor, "I can't think of any. Can you?"
Still, José lets his sense of familial obligation get the best of him, and falls right into the prescribed designs of Nora's well-crafted plans. He does this with no small amount of disdain, but he does it nonetheless.
What follows is a subtle and meticulous film. Perhaps too meticulous. Scenes tend to feel a little more like carefully orchestrated vignettes, rather than cohesive aspects of a continuous narrative.
Sometimes this works toward establishing a mood of heavily controlled lives yearning for some sense of individual freedom. As when Nora's young granddaughters argue about whether or not they are able to have pizza during Passover.
Most of the time, the fastidious feel of the distinctive scenes distracts from the poetically complex human drama unfolding in the foreground.
Jokes intended to lighten the mood typically feel clunky and tacked on. Heated arguments between family members are generally lukewarm at best and quickly forgotten about in the next scene.
It's as if the characters are afraid to emote too heavily. Perhaps they are afraid that Nora might still be watching and could reprimand them for their lack of restraint. The audience can almost feel Nora's overbearing presence as the camera hovers listlessly behind a bookcase or flower arrangement, taking in the scene from afar like an ethereal voyeur.
It bears mentioning that the film is not completely devoid of emotion. The rare and brief glimpses of what José and Nora used to have are genuinely touching. These glimpses provide a grounded and realistic vision of two complex individuals conflicted by a tenuous love they once had, and which they were never able to forget.
Given more screen time, the love story between Jose and Nora could have lifted Nora's Will to something more poignant than the sum of its parts.
As it is, Chenillo's film proves to be a strong first effort that is not without a few shortcomings. It is worth seeing solely for the perspective it offers on what the fledgling director might do next.
If, in the future, Chenillo can allow her characters the freedom to inhabit the emotionally labyrinthine stories she crafts, the resulting film will likely be something exceptional.
Nora's Will
UA DeVargas
562 N Guadalupe St.
