Distancias cortas

I caught this film in China on the Sichuan Film Channel at 2 am when I was on my holidays and was glad I did. This little gem from Mexico is about the middle aged and obese Fede who is housebound and going nowhere, chances of love, career and happiness have long gone as his sister takes care of him by washing and feeding him as he is barely surviving in his mothers old home.

He has friends though, his hen-pecked brother-in-law and a new friend who he connects with when he takes up photography after getting a camera and developing his photos at a local shop, the first time in a long time he had managed to leave his house.

The story is a road trip and about freedom, not just for Fede and an escape from his obesity and solitude but for his companions as well. A really wonderful, gentle but at the same time - powerful film, well worth a watch.