Chronicles of a Wandering Saint

Bustillo’s wit is minimalist without being precious, and although some scenes are not far removed from deadpan Jim Jarmusch absurdity, Rita’s plight becomes more reflective and thoughtful than you initially expect.

Bustillo is too much of a people-pleaser to let the poetry of his visuals speak for themselves, but he’s also skilled enough to ensure that those abstractions effectively deepen the all-too-digestible meaning of the story they exist to refract.

The visually elegant film can also be overly precious and whimsical, though that might be a virtue by some measures.

Chronicles really is a see-it-to-believe-it visual treat, just know that Bustillo pulls it off.

The movie’s first-time feature director, Tomás Gómez Bustillo, periodically pokes us from unpredictable angles, making us laugh, or at least smile ...

Despite being a first-time filmmaker, Bustillo has the steady directorial hand of a seasoned veteran.

Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s dramedy transported me to those strange nights [when I was a kid going to Holy Week processions in Tegucigalpa, Honduras] where the worlds of the dead and the living seemed to become one.

... A lucid and fun story about the heavenly aspirations that sometimes hide the most earthly accomplishments. [Full review in Spanish]

This is a deadpan satirical comedy with eventual poignance and lyricism, a true original.

The broader theme of these playful tricks and double meanings is the human need for fictions—those poetic lies which are somehow able to circumvent the dullness and meaninglessness of the world, to bring it into spiritual unity. In