Everything Else

For her narrative debut, documentarian Natalia Almada casts her keen observational eye on the inner turmoil of a lifelong bureaucrat in Mexico City. Doña Flor (Academy Award-nominee Adriana Barraza) spends her days behind a desk reviewing voter application IDs. As she nears retirement, she has become indistinguishable from the many dejected faces that join her on her daily train ride. The oppression of her daily routine extends even to her home where she lives alone with her cat, Manuelito. There, she makes lists of the people she assisted during the work day, meticulously cataloging her work life, while TV news reports of natural disasters and violence against women fill the air like white noise. Any solace she might find in her frequent visits to the local pool is marred by the memory of a tragedy that prevents her from stepping foot into the water, but simultaneously connects her to who she once was. With an austere manner and mitigated inflection, Barraza gives a fascinating, hypnotically controlled performance. Through Almada’s attentive and empathetic lens (captured with rigid precision by cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman), Everything Else is a starkly intimate portrait of a woman at odds with her life. —Jesse Knight