Gloria.
Many of the best scenes in this Chilean import are achieved with great delicacy, so it's a shame when things start thudding heavily in the home stretch. But star Paulina Garcia treads lightly and sure-footedly in a title role that could have easily gone off the rails. Playing a prosperous divorcee trying to restart her life on the wrong side of middle age – a process that involves a lot of nights out at local discotheques – the actress eschews the cuteness that defines so many movies about later-life romance. Instead, she plays the character as a bundle of raw nerves, bruised but warm to the touch. It's a performance of great skill that seems completely naturalistic, and the movie would be unimaginable without it.
At VIFF: Oct. 6, 3:15 pm, Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts; Oct. 9, 6:30 pm, Centre
Watch this film's trailer and rate how much you want to see it.
Adam Nayman