Continuing a relationship that began with 2001’s Y Tu Mamá También, Gael García Bernal and Alfonso Cuarón are expected to collaborate once more in Desierto, a Spanish-language drama helmed by Jonás Cuarón, son of the Gravity director. The noted connections don’t stop with familial ties: after co-writing his father’s upcoming film, the elder will return a favor, having agreed to produce alongside Lucas Akoskin and Alex Garcia. [Variety]
Cuarón‘s second feature — following 2007’s Year of the Nail — as penned alongside Mateo Garcia, follows a pair of illegal immigrants whose attempts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are impeded by “a drunk American citizen who has taken border patrol into his own hands.” A bond forms, naturally, all of which is much easier when one of them happens to be played by the ever-charismatic Bernal — his role said to be that of Moisés, a designation we can hope is not as symbolically obvious in the film as it happens to sound on the page. (They’re wandering around the desert, etc.)
Too little else is known about Desierto to formulate any large initial impressions, though saying as much is not to suggest that what we do know is of miniscule value. Bernal is as consistent as his generation comes, after all, and one can’t help but be slightly curious about ways a father’s supreme talent may or may not have passed down to his son — and Gravity may have a thing or two to say about that. (As if there weren’t enough reasons to be curious.) Cuarón begins rolling cameras in October, so we should be able to judge the final result soon enough.
Are you hopeful about the next Cuarón generation, and do the first details on Desierto provide ample reason?