Dir: Claudia Sainte-Luce
By Sarah Jilani
A funny, heartfelt and true-to-life tale on the families we choose for our own, this is Mexican director Sainte-Luce’s first feature film and is based on her own memories.
Claudia (Ximena Ayala), a lonely woman in her twenties, is working monotonous shifts in a supermarket, ends up in hospital with severe appendicitis. Terminally ill Martha (Lisa Owen), a single mother to four fiercely protective children, is in the bed just by her. Through this stroke of fate, Claudia grows to find a makeshift family of her own amongst the chaotically vibrant lives of Martha and the four siblings. Becoming both a column of support for them as Martha’s condition deteriorates, and finding that for the first time she feels a sense of belonging, Claudia learns the definition of ‘family’ truly has little to do with blood and everything to do with mutual affection.
Winner of the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, this surprisingly deep yet simple story touches on a number of ambiguous situations – Martha has AIDS, infected by her third husband who himself died of it, and her four children all have different fathers – with refreshing compassion and honesty. An enjoyable feel-good film for the whole family, The Amazing Catfish really captures that Latin American spirit of familial warmth and humour.
ORIGINAL TITLE: Los Insólitos Peces Gato
