Movie Mania

The relationship between beautiful Emilia (Elizabeth Cervantes) and her imaginative young daughter, Alicia, is tested in this understated Mexican drama. Disoriented after moving to a new apartment and left to herself when her mother starts bringing men home, Alicia takes refuge in dreams that soon become nightmares, especially after she begins to fear that her mom has become possessed by the vampirish man next door. With a keen eye for the rhythms and struggles of contemporary Mexican family life, this film illuminates the secret worlds of lonely children while never straying from its true subject: the uncommon love between a single mother and her child.