Federico Luis skillfully explores a subtly nuanced coming-of-age tale centered on the disabled community in his insightful and finely crafted debut feature, Simon of the Mountain, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week.
After premiering his short film La Siesta in the Official Selection of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and triumphing last year at IDFA with At That Very Moment (co-directed with Rita Pauls), where it won the Best Short Documentary Award, Federico Luis brings his debut feature Simon of the Mountain (original title: Simon de la Montaña) to the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and its sidebar Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week). The film is a confident and precise film that grapples with the disabled community, seeking a perspective on human capability.
Lorenzo Ferro, star of 2018’s El Angel in the Un Certain Regard, plays the titular character, 21-year-old Simon. He claims not to know how to cook or clean the bathroom and is excited to join the disabled community, where his new friend Pauhen engages him to become a member of the academy. Simon has been hanging out with his new friends for the past three weeks and is well-received despite not having a disability certificate. When an incident occurs between the boys and girls in the locker room, we learn that Simon is trying to escape his daily life at home with his abusive and stubborn mother. They both live in his mother’s boyfriend’s house, where Simon helps as a moving assistant during the day. They told Simon not to hang around with his new friends, but he persisted. With Pehuen’s help, Simon strives to get the certificate.
In his debut film, Federico Luis tackles a traditional axis of the coming-of-age genre, featuring someone choosing a path to adulthood by circumstance. Simon of the Mountain is particularly interesting in the way it explores the reality of parents keeping their children in the dark, but what’s even more intriguing in Luis’ screenplay, co-written with Tomás Murphy and Agustín Toscano, is how they approach the idea of Simon choosing his path to adulthood: Simon is not actually disabled but pretends to be in order to have his own life away from his mother and her boyfriend. This is an idea that may trigger some viewers, but Luis handles it wisely. Sometimes it is challenging to tell a story when you are not a part of it, but Luis deftly infuses his film with tender feelings and carries it through so carefully that it brims without any misperceptions about the community.
Despite being shot in the striking Mendoza region, Simon of the Mountain does not focus extensively on its setting (despite the title including the word “Mountain”). Instead, the landscapes gracefully serve as a backdrop while Luis focuses more on capturing the faces and movements of his characters, creating tremendous intimacy. It offers a subtle and nuanced portrait of the disabled community in moments of blissful silliness and small confessions that showcase their greatness.
Simon of the Mountain is produced by Argentina’s 20/20, which previously produced Luis’ short La Siesta, in co-production with Chile’s Planta, Uruguay’s Mother Superior, and Mexico’s Twelve Thirty Media, with Paris-based Luxbox handling its world sales. The film has been sold to Arizona Distribution, best known for releasing last year’s Argentinian entry in the Un Certain Regard, The Delinquents, in French cinemas.
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