MIT Lecture Series Committee

unrated
89 minutes

view trailer

format: 35mm

Lake Tahoe (2008)

Co-sponsored by MISTI (MIT Mexico).

Former music video director Fernando Eimbcke continues to hone his feature film career with this drama concerning a 14-year-old boy who makes the transition from childhood to adulthood while attempting to repair an irreplaceable gift. The final gift that Juan ever received from his father was a car. Now Juan has crashed that car, and he's determined to get it in working order again. As Juan searches the city for car parts, he gradually begins to realize that the decisions he makes over the course of this one day could profoundly affect him for the rest of his life. [allmovie.com]

[Eimbcke finds] warmth, humor and grace in these ragged environments. Once we learn the cause of Juan's malaise, images we've already seen take on extraordinary significance.
      -- Jeffrey Overstreet, Looking Closer. Read this review.