The Delay

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging

María lives with her three school-age children and 80-year-old father, Agustín. It’s clearly a struggle for her to make ends meet and to juggle all of her commitments. Agustín has periods of lucidity, but his mental deterioration is such that Maria explores the possibility of his either living with another relative or moving into some kind of care facility. When both of these options seem imposible, María makes a drastic decision.

Selected as Uruguay’s entry for the 2013 Academy Awards, Rodrigo Plá’s narrative accuracy gets audiences involved in this simple story with no false notes. Far from the notion of dysfunctional family American cinema has transformed into a tight system of clichés, The Delay moves far beyond the realm of black and white, employing a subtle variation of grays, underlining what becomes the film’s central theme: the intense, painful ambivalence of family responsibility.

"The careworn, drawn face of María, a single mother raising three school-age children in a cramped, dingy apartment with her increasingly confused elderly father, communicates every element of this small but elegant film...Set in Montevideo, this unsparing look at the modern realities of getting old in a world without a social safety net has global application." — Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic Seminary Library, Pittsburgh, EMRO

"A powerful, realistic drama about an impaired old man and the daughter who cares for him, this is not only a closely observed psychological portrait of the relations between them but more than that, a moving social study of penury at work destroying the fabric of a family." — Dan Fainar, Screen Daily

"Indeed, while the Montevideo we see in The Delay is a grubby, dilapidated city, painted in unhealthy, mildew shades of gray and blue, community spirit is alive and well here, with people looking out for each other in what's clearly a cold climate both economically and heat-wise (and where humor of any kind is decidedly thin on the ground)." — Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

"Carlos Vallarino and Roxana Blanco offer up moving yet underplayed perfs as a father and daughter who find themselves in a desperate situation wrought with finely nuanced emotional brushstrokes." — Variety

"A wonderful lesson in humanity that leaves you shaken." — Le Monde

"A beautiful film of distress and love, played with great accuracy." — Le Figaro

"Sober and modest, La Demora demonstrates the presence of a true filmmaker." — Cahiers du Cinéma

"A beautiful film about family and intergenerational relations." — Pelerin

"A powerful film and sensitive story beautifully interpreted and very cleverly done." — Les Fiches du Cinéma

"A delicate film of a beautiful simplicity yet expressive." — La Croix

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Plá, Rodrigo (film director)
Plá, Rodrigo (film producer)
Valdelièvre, Christian (film producer)
Saravia Vinay, Sandino (film producer)
Blanco, Roxana (actor)
Vallarino, Carlos (actor)

Other credits

Cinematography, María Secco; editor, Miguel Schverdfinger; music, Jacobo Lieberman, Leonardo Heiblum.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

elderly, family responsibility, care facility, aging, older, senior, Alzheimer's disease, spanish, spanish language, latin america, latin american cinema, latin american film, ibero america, latin, latinx, latino, latina,,family, kin, fellowship, household, immediate family, extended family, multigenerational family, multigenerational household, kinfolk, family tree, genealogy, nuclear family, modern family, family tree,health, healthy, physical health, mental health, emotional health, health equity, public health, health care, health policy, fitness, veracity, welfare, soundness, aging, age, old age, senior, youth, middle age, aging gracefully, advanced age, collective health, maturity,latin american studies, caribbean american studies, island studies, latin american culture, latin american history, latin american politics, caribbean american culture, caribbean american history, caribbean american politics, latin american languages, latin american and caribbean studies, hispanic american studies, hispanic people, hispanic culture, hispanic politics,women, womanhood, gender, girl, girlhood, mother, motherhood, female, cis woman, cis female, trans woman, trans female, women’s rights, women’s issues, lady, ladies, gentlewoman, madame, miss, missus, mrs., dame, damsel, ingenue, lass, maid, maiden, belle, gal, ladyfriend, girlfriend, dear, darling, widow, matron, dowager, gender, gender equality, gender pay gap, women’s liberation, women’s rights,economics, social class, money, capital, capitalism, class, economy, prejudice, intersectionality, inequality, poverty, income gap, wage gap, class warfare, elitism, snobbery, bourgeois, poverty, upper class, middle class, lower class, nouveau riche,sociology, anthropology, psychology, sociological, sociological perspectives, conflict theory, human conflicts, sociological thinking,conflict perspective, topics in sociology, sociology topics, sociology studies, social studies, people and cultures, human relations, human relationships, cultural studies, culture studies ,south america, south american countries, countries in south america, argentina, bolivia, brazil, chile, colombia, ecuador, guyana, paraguay, peru, suriname, uruguay, venezuela, south american politics, south american culture, south american cuisine, south american education, south america in media, south american languages, south america history,oscar® contenders, oscar® awards, oscar® nominees, oscar® nominee, oscar contenders, oscar® consideration, oscar awards, oscar nominees, oscar nominee, oscars, oscar consideration, oscar® finalist, academy awards, academy award, academy award nominee, academy award nominees, academy award consideration,THE DELAY,uruguay,la demora,spanish language,la misma luna,french language film,amores perros,Spanish language movies,la llorona,LA 92,spanish movies,pragda,foreign movies,some kind of heaven,drama,Spanish language films,foreign films,la moustache,german language cinema,•_La demora, Uruguay, 2012, (97 minutos),Amaral,camerista,la casa del lobo,rojo,detrazo,Amar te duele,la vie en rose,La Cienaga,The Delat,La odisea de los Giles,pain,uruguay films,psychological movies,lengua de las mariposas,best foreign language film,la ciociara,spanish,academy award; "The Delay"; Pragda Films