This uncommonly observant, award-winning first feature by Chris Eska about an aging, undocumented Mexican worker in Texas (Castaneda, a novice and a discovery) who urges his widowed daughter-in-law (Loren) to remarry echoes Yasujiro Ozu's classic 1962 film An Autumn Afternoon in title, theme, and gentle spirit. The filmmaker of August Evening creates a succession of quiet, elliptical scenes that accrue into an affecting big picture of family ties and immigrant experience. The story sometimes moves at a crawl, but always the filmmaker follows the pair with unobtrusive attentiveness to conflicting cultural and generational pulls. B+
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