Film Festival Review Series: Patagonia

Director Marc Evans' international drama Patagonia chronicles the journey taken by two different women as they attempt to escape from their mundane lives in order to find peace within themselves in a new setting.

Argentinean Cerys (Marta Lubos) is an elderly woman who, accompanied by her anxious teenage nephew Alejandro (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), ventures to the Welsh farmlands where her mother was raised. American pop singer Duffy serves as Alejandro's love interest in the role of Sissy, a caravan park employee. 

Wales native Gwen (Nia Roberts) is an aspiring actress stuck in a rocky relationship with her photographer boyfriend Rhys (Matthew Gravelle) after being unable to conceive a child. The couple travels to Patagonia when Rhys is sent on a business project, only to have tensions rise when Gwen becomes romantically involved with their tour guide, Mateo (Matthew Rhys).

Ever-changing geographic landscapes dominate the film's visual aesthetics, ranging from the rural textures of Patagonian outskirts to the lush greenery of Wales. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan utilizes these backdrops as a means of initiating character development and accentuating the vulnerability expressed while adapting to a new environment.

However, the profound impact the imagery has on viewers fails to translate into the storyline. What we have presented before us is a plot based solely on sentimental nostalgia that does not move the audience as intended, but instead, creates a stale, lagging feature with as much progress and efficiency as a broken elevator shaft.     

Patagonia is made out to be a road film dealing with the main characters' eventual (and expected) epiphany of self-discovery, and it accomplishes just that. Unfortunately, predictability and ineffective plot devices added to cause conflict (Love triangle, anyone?) do not make a memorable movie.