So Much Tenderness

When her husband is killed in suspicious circumstances while she worked for an NGO, Aurora (Noëlle Schönwald) decides to flee her native Colombia. With the help of a Canadian couple (Anne at 13,000 ft star Deragh Campbell and director Kazik Radwanski), she makes her way to Toronto to start anew — but Aurora will soon discover that the past is not so easily left behind.

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Haunted by images of her late husband and unable to speak English, Aurora finds herself in unfamiliar surroundings as she processes her recent tragedy. But a few years later, having found work, friendship, and community and now joined by her daughter, Lucía (Natalia Aranguren), Aurora has settled in well. However, when an unexpected and most unwelcome figure from her past emerges, Aurora must face the duelling forces of her past and present lives and attempt to find reconciliation.

With sensitivity and subtlety, Colombian-Canadian filmmaker Lina Rodríguez (Mis dos voces, This Time Tomorrow) brings a rare level of nuance to this deeply personal immigrant tale. Sidestepping clichés of nostalgia, trauma, and identity, So Much Tenderness takes a bittersweet look at both the challenges and the possibilities that come with migration. Rodríguez beautifully captures the way displacement permeates daily life, as well as how the fluidity of self allows us to add to who we are rather than to shed who we were.

RAVI SRINIVASAN

Official Selection, 2022 Toronto International Film Festival