Hombre Al Agua, co-written and directed by none other than Gael García Bernal, is a class satire that tries very hard to be both a comedy of errors and a biting criticism of the systems that keep people in the same place, no matter how much they work. Despite its best intentions, however, the movie is disjointed, never settling on a tone, theme, or genre and failing to deliver as strong a message as it probably wanted.
The idea behind it is pretty obvious. The movie follows Cuban lifeguard Camilo (Gael García Bernal), who rescues Mexican businessman Abel (Jorge Salinas) from drowning. From there, Abel offers Camilo a job at his manufacturing business, which leads to Camilo falling in love with Abel’s daughter Juana (Esmeralda Pimentel) and what seems like a perfect life.
MORE: La Bola Negra TIFF Review: This is Why It’s Important to Preserve LGBTQ+ Stories
But things start going south sooner rather than later. Camilo is tasked with looking after Abel’s pregnant girlfriend, Silvina (Natalia Oreiro), all while Juana teams up with a Brazilian film star (Débora Nascimento) to make a movie about her life, one that doesn’t really present Camilo in the best light. And did I mention Camilo and Juana have a child no one really seems to know how to care for?
It’s a good setup, and at times, the movie seems to hone in on the message it wants to send: Camilo has just left one type of prison for another, one type of boss for an even worse one, because this one expects absolute loyalty. But there’s too much that the movie suggests and never really confirms, which means the audience has to make a lot of mental leaps to understand what the movie is trying to do.
That wouldn’t be a problem if, at some point, the movie presented us with an “aha” moment that made it all worth it, but Hombre al Agua stays in the shallow waters, never really delivering a gut punch, despite tackling a lot of very compelling ideas. Instead, the script seems content to leave it all to interpretation, which results in the movie feeling like it has no reason to even exist.
MORE: YAGA Spoiler-Free Review: A Witty, Twisted & Sexy Supernatural Thriller
Hombre al Agua has some amusing moments within the absurd, and every one of the actors feels like they are very much dialed into whatever’s happening, even if we’re not always in on the joke. Garcia Bernal and Natalia Oreiro, in particular, have such an easy chemistry in their conversations that it’s easy to see where this movie wanted to go and imagine a world where it actually achieved what it set out to do.
There’s also a lot to be said about the idea that someone like Camilo will remain on one side of the divide, if not economically, at least spiritually, never to be seen as an equal, no matter what he does. The rich will always exploit the poor, and the “new rich” will never be as respected as old money. But Hombre al Agua isn’t as effective at telling this story, or any story, really, as it wants to be.
You can still enjoy it, and you can still get the message. It’s just not as biting as it perhaps should be.
Hombre al Agua screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
