Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Mexican director Juan Pablo González tells a story about an iron-willed businesswoman Maria Garcia who fights the impending collapse of her tequila factory when living in the bucolic hills of Mexico's Jalisco highlands. There is a lot of things to appreciate about this movie. Gonzalez way of telling the story of the Mexican landscape feels real and nature due to the great performances from the cast, interesting culture aspects at display, a metaphoric tone and style, and well designed conversations between the characters. Creating tequila itself isn't something easy to do so having to see someone who is desperate to try and keep the business afloat despite the situation surrounding them is hard. The main character Maria Garcia is interesting to watch as we join her on her journey of how she is living her life and trying her best to keep the business afloat.

The camerawork is really beautiful as it makes it feel like you are in Mexico, the sound design and costume sets feels colorful and bright, the music at display is alright even tho the music could be improved at certain moments, and the direction Gonzalez provides helps to make this movie feel nature and realistic. The slow burn pacing works for the most part but there were two scenes where different characters are interacting in the wild landscape felt like filler and didn't really have much to offer. And there is one really terrible shot where two individuals are talking to each far away as they are walking up the frame for a few good moments as it looked really ugly and unnecessary to be shown. Reminded me of one terrible scene in the movie "BlacKkKlansman".

Overall, it is a good slow burn drama and I look forward to see more art house Mexican cinema.

Rating: B