all the words but the one
2024 · 18m · USA
Directed by Nava Mau
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
A dinner with her partner's new boss becomes precarious when Maya realizes the boss's husband is Santiago, her ex from whom she had an explosive parting years earlier. Past and present collide as Maya navigates a healing journey through the tension of the evening.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer) directing herself and another trans actor through a past-present dinner-party time collision — the cinematic-language split for timelines is a real craft move. Has a chance to be very good.
Nava Mau, already established by Baby Reindeer, brings her actor's intelligence to direction with a temporally bifurcated visual grammar that suggests genuine formal ambition. The age-gated YouTube placement only deepens my curiosity.
18 minutes from Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer) directing and starring, using distinctly different cinematic languages for past and present timelines — different framing, camera moves, color palettes — to externalize trans memory. 195K SOTW views confirms the formal split reads cleanly, not as confusion.
Reviews
Mau's ability to ground her character with very few lines is especially remarkable, conveying effectively the chaotic emotional roller coaster Maya embarks on throughout the evening with impressive nuance.
An emotionally powerful, intelligent, and mature examination of healing, exploring survival and healing from the trauma of intimate partner violence.
Festivals
- Inside Out Film Festival 2024
- NewFest 2024
- Leeds International Film Festival 2024
- Iris Prize Festival 2024
- GuadaLAjara Film Festival 2024, Trailblazer Award
- Out on Film 2024