Final Rating: 3/5
Most, if not all of us, know the feeling of seeing someone experience a brutal medical condition. Cancer is particularly ubiquitous. What long-running television program hasn’t had a subplot that dealt with cancer? Characters receiving that diagnosis have been depicted with a wide range of responses from wanting to end it all instantaneously to learning how to seize every moment they have left. Some survive; some do not.
In writer/director Glorimar Marrero Sánchez’s La Pecera (The Fishbowl), Noelia – an evocative Isel Rodriguez – does her best to ignore her cancer. This is made quite difficult by the bag attached to her abdomen and persistent bleeding. At the onset of the film, Noelia is hiding the severity of her discomfort and pain from most of her friends and family, unwilling to let it drag her down. But anyone expecting La Pecera to unfold into Noelia asking for help will find themselves still waiting as the credits roll.
Noelia’s actions aren’t the kind one might associate with someone suffering from a cancer that is metastasizing. She runs away from her home in San Juan. She falls asleep in her car. She shows up unexpectedly at her mother’s house back in Vieques, a small island a few miles off the coast of mainland Puerto Rico where she grew up.
Notably, one of the first things you’ll read on Vieques’ Wikipedia page is about the protests in response to the United States Navy using it as a bombing range from the 1940s to 2003. When Noelia arrives home, it’s about a year after the Navy has left. She pushes herself to take part in a political campaign to raise awareness of the pollution in Vieques’ waters left behind by the bombings.P
Isel Rodriguez has a striking screen presence, even when she isn’t speaking, and she has effortless chemistry with the other performers. Modesto Lacen playing Juni, one of Noelia’s friends from Vieques and someone involved in the political campaign, is tender and compassionate in ways that don’t lead to the probing questions Noelia wants to avoid. On the other hand, Maximiliano Rivas plays Noelia’s boyfriend Jorge in San Juan and acts the way most partners treat someone with cancer by trying to get her to see her doctor and address it properly.
The unsung hero of the film is Magali Carrasquillo’s Flora, Noelia’s mother. She takes her daughter’s sudden appearance in stride. She recognizes Noelia’s attitude and self-destructive actions. After failing to convince her to do what she should do, she allows Noelia to learn her lesson the hard way. It’s a complex role under the surface that Carrasquillo proves more than capable of managing.
As Sánchez’s first feature, La Pecera combines elements from most of the short films she’s worked on. Biopsia and Todavía surround people and a character, respectively, who have cancer. Biopsia, in particular, references Vieques and the connection between the United States Navy and increased cancer diagnoses. Revuelo and Juana(s) Matos are documentaries that shine light on small communities. Sánchez also wrote Tokío and Amarillo, both directed by Joel Pérez Irizarry, which further entrench her sensibilities and connection to small communities and Puerto Rico. All of these short films can be found under the videos tab of her website.
I have never been to Puerto Rico and knew nothing about most of these details until I began to dive into Glorimar Marrero Sánchez’s films. Like any passion project, La Pecera will resonate far more with people who are closer to Vieques or Puerto Rico. The film makes some effort to illustrate the history and emotion tied to the events it references, but leaves things relatively underdeveloped if the viewer doesn’t do a bit of homework on their own time.
The ‘C’ plot of the film makes sense given when everything happens, but never feels fully connected to the story Sánchez is telling. Hurricane Ivan’s deadly rampage in 2004, sweeping through the Caribbean and into the United States, is persistently looming over the film once the setting fixes itself in Vieques. The primary goal of the political campaign Noelia becomes involved in is to dive for pictures of the pollution before Ivan lands. However, despite referencing the storm throughout the film as people hurry to clear away debris, batten down their homes, and prepare for the worst, its actual presence is strikingly absent.
The mixture of Noelia’s cancer, Vieques’ political campaign, and Hurricane Ivan have moments when they coalesce. Noelia ignores her cancer and acts like it isn’t happening in the same way that the government ignores Vieques’ pleas for action. Similarly, it takes a lot of finger pointing and protests to get either to finally address their problem. Though, neither of those outcomes happen within the scope of the film.
With how much information is required to understand the breadth of the film’s themes, viewers may find it easiest to latch on to the cancer side of the plot. When La Pecera focuses on Noelia and her cancer (or rejection thereof), the film is at its best. Unfortunately, the resolution to that thread is lacking.
Sánchez’s camera catches some beautiful moments that convey more than any amount of dialogue could. A shot of Noelia with her head hanging out the window of Juni’s truck is all that’s needed to understand how she feels about her diagnosis. Accepting the cancer will lead to her life being turned upside down, something she’ll do everything she can to avoid. Noelia doesn’t want to lose who she is and doesn’t want to be told what she can and can’t do (a line she later says).
Noelia is doing her best to avoid being in the titular fishbowl. She doesn’t want people gawking at her and tapping on the glass. She doesn’t want to feel trapped and unable to swim in the (polluted) ocean. She runs away from San Juan before it happens there. And when her mother and Jorge try to help, she attempts to flee them, as well.
There’s a lot to like about La Pecera, from the performances to the cinematography, but it doesn’t provide as satisfying an ending as it could have. As picturesque as the final shots of the film are, they leave a somewhat hollow taste in the mouth. There’s a lot of potential that Sánchez comes close to reaching, but doesn’t quite make it the whole way there. It’s a promising debut feature that, at the very least, will make you keep an eye on her future projects and want to see more performances from Isel Rodriguez.
Thank you to Monument Releasing and Cinema Tropical for the screener.
