[Review] Gloria

Gloria (Paulina Garcia) is a 58-year-old divorcée. She lives in the moment, reacts to conflicts in stride, and she doesn't dwell on the past or dread the future. She's the center and title of this Chilean film, directed by Sebastian Lelio.

During a night at a singles bar, Gloria meets Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez) and the two develop a hit-and-miss relationship. A chunk of the plot concerns this, but the stagnant and repetitious narrative often dwells in mundane territory. Gloria is very much an intimate and observational character study that hinges on Garcia's stellar acting.

Paulina Garcia is consistently radiant in each scene, beguiling attention without ever getting Streepish (can we make that a word?). Garcia's performance exudes the powers of subtlety through nuanced expressions. It's amazingly well-rounded and effortlessly fluent.

Despite Garcia's greatness, the film sighingly reaches a point where you get the feeling that if you dozed off for a period of time, you wouldn't miss too much. This leisurely pace gets tiresome over the course of 110 minutes. The film will be too tedious for some, but Gloria herself is lively as can be.

 6/10