Is this a new movement? The South American realistic road movie? 2011's Argentinian drama Las Acacias was an immersive experience, placing the audience in the cabin of a truck where we could feel its rumbling and hear every squeak of the seats as it ran over every bump in the road. Chilean director Domingo Sotomayor Castillo's debut is similar but thankfully finds more for the characters to do. Not enough to stave off boredom, however.
Set in northern Chile, Thursday 'Til Sunday documents a family's break up on holiday. Dad (Perez-Bannen), mum (Giannini), 7-year-old Manuel (Freifield) and ten-year-old Lucia (Ahumada) take to the road for their yearly holiday. However, this could be the last one: Mum and dad are being snipey with each other and over the next four days it becomes increasingly evident that the marriage is in trouble.
We know this but the kids don't, as Thursday 'Til Sunday is seen through the eyes of Lucia who is too young to notice the tense atmosphere in the car. Domingo Sotomayor Castillo has taken our world-weariness and placed it into a child. We use her eyes - it's almost always played out through her POV with constant shots from the back of the car that catch only the back and profile of mum and dad - but we, the audience, see so much more. We see mum's face when dad stops to give two teen girls a lift or when he doesn't seem pushed on meeting up with old friends. All the passive aggressive feelings come from him.
The long takes of nothing tap into the realistic atmosphere the director is after and while the performances match this naturalistic vibe there just isn't enough happening. Even at a trim ninety-six minutes the running time is felt. As Manuel remarks as he stares out at the barren lunar-like landscape, "It all looks the same." The monotony can be too much to take - we've all been stuck in the back of a car on holidays and it's not fun. If you want to relive that, check Thursday 'Til Sunday out. If not, don't.