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“Working with kids in movies is a lesson in not quite improvisation, but in adaptation,” says Mexico’s Fernando Eimbcke who first captivated audiences with his acclaimed feature film debut “Duck Season” (“Temporada de patos”). “They are filmmakers by nature,” he mused, “They’re drawn to drama—and by drama, I mean action.”
Now in official competition at the Berlinale, his latest film “Flies” turns on Olga who lives an unremarkable life in an apartment complex. After an unexpected expense drains her savings, she rents out a room to a man from out of town who sneaks in his nine-year-old son at night. But her carefully calibrated world begins to unravel as she bonds with the boy. Its clip unspools exclusively in Variety:
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Like “Duck Season,” he shot “Flies” (“Moscas”) in black & white. Young boys and video games are also central to the story. “Flies” also features an actor who played the pizza delivery man in “Duck Season,” Enrique Arreola.
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Non-pro Bastian Escobar plays the boy and Hugo Ramírez, also a non-pro, portrays his father. Teresita Sánchez, known for her star turns in “Totem” and “Dos Estaciones,” is Olga.
“I had seen Teresita in Nicolás Pereda’s films. And later I saw her in Lila Avilés’ films, ‘The Chambermaid’ and ‘Totem.’” She is one of my favorite actresses and ever since Nicolás’s films, I really wanted to work with her.”
The premise of the story is universal, Eimbcke notes. “It’s a kind of archetypal story. You see it in ‘Gloria’ by Nick Cassavetes and in ‘Alice in the Cities’ by Wim Wenders: an adult who suddenly has to take care of a child, and how that child transforms the adult’s entire universe.”
“The fly is an unwanted living presence that enters your life—something you want to get rid of, yet can’t ignore. That’s how life works: once something enters, it transforms everything. In that sense, the father and son are the flies. There’s a clear metaphorical play there,” he explains.
Regarding his choice to shoot in black & white, he says. “It was one of those very happy accidents. I was drawn to black & white for the balance it brings to melodrama, with small touches of farce – I’ve always appreciated that kind of humor, and Chaplin’s influence is there.”
“Black and white has a geometry that makes gags cleaner. Then there was the coincidence: it perfectly fused the real world with the video-game world. Since both already exist in black & white, when the boy enters that world to find his mother, the fusion feels seamless.”
Eimbcke’s ties to Berlin go as far back as his participation in the festival’s very first Talent Campus; living in the city for six years. He was also there in 2007 with his sophomore film, “Lake Tahoe” and with his most recent pic, “Olmo” in the Panorama section.
“’Flies’ has a touch of Berlin in it. I was deeply inspired by the huge housing blocks built in East Berlin. I found a strong similarity between those buildings and the ones that appear in the film, and I really love that connection,” he says.
“Flies” was produced via Kinotitlán with Eréndira Núñez Larios and Michel Franco of Teorema, which also produced “Olmo” alongside Plan B.
He credits his co-writer Vanesa Garnica, a novelist, on molding the story, which he had written decades ago and found tucked away among his computer files. “We worked intensely on every detail, on every fine weave, going deeper and deeper into things. Working with her gave the story a completely different shape. The original script I wrote 25 years ago was much wilder, clumsier. It was only 45 pages long. Working with Vanessa gave this story a new life. Without her, it wouldn’t be this script.”
Garnica also worked on his previous film “Olmo” and is collaborating on his next, an adaptation.
“Movies choose when they want to be made. I needed time – and more experience – to make this one. When the moment came, there was more confidence and a clear sense that it had to be done. It wasn’t driven by fear or second-guessing, but by the willingness to take the risk and make it.”
