Struggle, redefined.
Luciana, played by director and writer Ana Asensio, is an undocumented immigrant in New York city. She passes out flyers dressed like a chicken ballerina, babysits two bratty kids and she’s very close to being broke. She’s running away from something that happened in her past, something to do with the name Sofia. And you can guess it was probably her daughter by the way she scolds one of the children after running away.
Making ends meet is starting to become thin. She can’t afford the rent anymore. Her phone no longer has any credit. Things are starting to wear on her, but she’s grown more resilient. While taking a bath, she rips out some duct tape from the wall and a bunch of cockroaches crawl out. She doesn’t react. That forecasts things to come.
After a friend of hers with the same luck gives her a tip to earn some easy money, Luciana obtains a little black dress and shows up at an address. She’ll be joining some party girls and she must carry a locked up clutch purse. She doesn’t get any explanations, but the promise of cash is too good to pass up.
What follows is one of the over the top bizarre games that powerful people can devise using people who have no power at all and take high risk in exchange for a slightly larger bit of cash. It’s not what you think. But I can’t really give it away. Here’s the thing, the idea is to make you uncomfortable. The camera will not cut away.
Highly recommended with uneasy moments. It’s the uncertainty of living as an illegal immigrant mixed with one horror tale. I’m glad that the ending does not go for a blackout but the end of another day and the continuation of survival. There was this horrible moment to endure, and true or not it was something we didn’t wish for our worst enemy. For Luciana, the day was over but the struggle continues tomorrow.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 