MANY WILL BE WATCHING
In Julia Solomonoff’s latest film Nobody’s Watching (Nadie Nos Mira), Nico (a sympathetic Guillermo Pfening), an Argentine soap star who yearns to do serious work, comes to New York to play in an independent film. But with the production continually getting delayed he’s forced to work odd jobs—babysitter, waiter, apartment cleaner—to keep himself afloat, at the same time trying to maintain a façade of success to friends and relatives back home.
With a solid script by Ms. Solomonoff and Christina Lazaridi, Nobody’s Watching is an understated film made in the style of observational realism so common to indie fare of the past decade. But whereas many such movies use silence, passivity and ambiguity to disguise a lack of insight and direction, Ms. Solomonoff leads us confidently along with intelligence and compassion. The plot moves. The actors deliver convincing portrayals. And the characters feel like they have lives outside the frame. The film abstains from commentary, is never sensationalistic or agenda-driven. Rather it’s a simple, well-rendered story of the indignities suffered by an alien who comes to New York with hope, expectations and a sense of his own worth based on his achievements back home, and of his rapid realization that in America nobody cares.
photos by John Harris courtesy of FiGa Films
Nobody’s Watching (Nadie Nos Mira)
FiGa Films
USA | Spain | Brazil | Argentina | Colombia
2017 | Color | 102 min.
in Spanish and English with English Subtitles
World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival
for screening times, visit Tribeca