Tu Me Manques Review: Powerful Human Drama From Bolivia

Release date: April 22, 2021 (Limited Theatrical); May 4 (DVD and Digital)
Running time: 111 minutes
Written and Directed By: Rodrigo Bellott
Starring: Oscar Martinez, Rossy de Palma, Fernando Barbosa, Quim del Rio, Jose Durán, Benjamin Lukovski, Dominic Colón, Rick Cosnett 

Following the death of his son, Jorge travels from conservative Bolivia to NYC to confront Sebastian - his son’s boyfriend. While Jorge struggles to accept the life of his son, Sebastian channels his grief into a bold play honoring his lost love.

Tu Me Manques is Bolivia's official Oscars selection for best foreign film.  It is the film adaptation of a groundbreaking play that debuted in the country in 2015.  That play confronted the stigma of homosexuality, by telling the story of a young man who committed suicide because of who he was.  It is not an uncommon occurrence for LGBTQ youths, many of whom are wracked with shame and guilt over their feelings.  In Bolivia and many Latin American countries, there is little acceptance for this lifestyle even among family.  Tu Me Manques explores this and the life of Gabriel, his time in New York finding who he was, and his untimely death as a result.

Tu Me Manques takes pieces of the play and weaves them in with dramatizations of Gabriel's life.  It seems like the play itself tells this story, but we are generally only shown limited sections of the performance so it is tough to tell.  Regardless, this film tells a beautiful and heart wrenching story of a young man who finds himself only to give into fear at a perceived lack of acceptance at home.  The dramatization sequences are well acted with bold characters and plenty of emotion.  As Gabriel's father learns more about his son's life in New York, he sees the life and friends his son found and the place where he could be himself.  And this journey is painful and emotional for all as the father and Gabriel's boyfriend are forced to remember the young man that is no longer there.  And this is accompanied by some amazing music that will amplify your emotions.  This music is dramatic and sometimes soul-touching.

But Tu Me Manques really shines for how bold it is.  Like the play, this film confronts homosexual stereotypes and stigmas head on, but also shows love and sense of community.  In exploring Gabriel's life, his father meets his friends and goes to his old hang outs, finding out how different his lifestyle was, but also how supportive his friends and members of the community are.  Despite being a Bolivian film, it is not afraid to show the conservative, sometimes toxic culture that it comes from.  And I was most impressed with a series of interviews in the film, where gay men talked about the shame that they had in their feelings in honest, sometimes shocking ways.  They touch on family denial, cultural stigma, personal shame, and the strange ways that they went about trying to hide who they were.  This film also doesn't shy away from Gabriel's relationship and the pure love that these two men experience, both physically and emotionally.  The movie is a beautiful, bittersweet film that concludes with a dramatic, climactic ending.  It is definitely not a movie to be missed.

Tu Me Manques is a beautiful, bittersweet, and poignant look into love, the need to be yourself, and the homosexual stigma in Latino culture.

Watch it.

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Tu Me Manques is available in select theaters on April 22, 2021 and available digitally and on DVD on May 4, 2021. For showtimes, click here.

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