One of the first and last things you see in “Tótem,” Lila Avilés’ lovely and astonishing second feature, is a shot of a young girl’s face. Avilés’ technique has grown looser, more mobile and rough-hewn than in her 2018 debut feature, “The Chambermaid,” a meticulously composed portrait of a worker in a luxury hotel. But the achievement of “Tótem,” Mexico’s …
Built from intuitive hunches — she calls them “corazonadas” — the work of Mexican writer-director Lila Avilés plays like an invitation into her characters’ most vulnerable states, not to judge them but to share in their experience. Although “Tótem,” in theaters Friday, didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for international feature, its soul-stirring power has gained Avilés several famous fans. “‘Tótem’ …
For a film about death, Lila Avilés’ “Tótem” is extraordinarily lived in. Young Sol spends much of “Tótem” spying on another world, the adult world, a place buzzing with activity that seems strangely, perhaps, distracted from the crushing calamity right down the hall. “Tótem,” which was Mexico’s shortlisted Oscar submission and begins its theatrical release Friday, more than confirms the …
