Written and directed by Rick Dominguez, Carlos Through the Tall Grass tells the story of eighteen year-old Carlos Avila (Miguel Angel Garcia). Lately he’s been wandering around with a cloud hanging over his head because he didn’t get into his first choice of university. Or his second. While Carlos feels doomed never to be good enough after having to settle for his third choice, Brown, he finds himself getting more and more wrapped up in the lives of others. Blind to his own achievements, Carlos has a tendency not only to see his own faults, but also the faults in others. However, he approaches this fact with an unending drive to help people. He sees what is wrong with the world and strives almost pathologically to fix it.
From trying to find evidence to free a man from prison to helping fixing cars in a garage, Carlos zips between his mother, grandmother, best friend and cousin (to name a few), convinced their lives will fall apart without him. The truth, however, is that Carlos is scared to leave for university; to become a small fish in a big pond. Will he still be as brilliant as everyone says he is?
As Carlos tries to find a hundred reasons not to leave, we are introduced to a wonderful cast of characters. His friends and family are all bright and varied personalities that expand the main narrative of the film into a diverse, nuanced tableau depicting a young man’s journey into adulthood. The peripheral characters provide extra depth to the narrative, giving some interesting side plots. Carlos’ cousin, Esteban (Ruben Q. Sanchez), gets in trouble at work and runs to Carlos for help. Sanchez plays a superbly wacky roll as the hapless mechanic’s assistant, providing great comic relief. Another nice touch is the love interest for Carlos’ mother, Ana (Ruby Gonzalez).
One of the most prominent storylines revolves around Carlos’ best friend, Rhonda (Ammy Ontiveros). Ontiveros brings so much joy and happiness to the screen as she captures Rhonda’s journey to find a purpose in life. She fervently tries out different occupations, trying to find her calling. Will she be a lounge singer, a roller-skater or a firefighter? I feel the friendship between Rhonda and Carlos could have been developed more as Carlos comes to realise that he isn’t the only one trying to figure life out. However, even without this character development, there are some beautiful moments between the two friends captured through excellent cinematography. Garcia has great chemistry with everyone on screen, but the touching friendship with Ontiveros as Rhonda shines above the rest.
The stylistic cinematography by David Hebrero makes for some beautiful visual moments. The scattered use of sun flares and rainbow light adds a sense of magic to the coming-of-age narrative, reflecting the great attention to detail woven through every element of the film. The editing, also by director Rick Dominguez, is clean and inventive with the creative use of slow motion capturing those moments when time seems to travel at half-speed. A particular high point of the film is its soundtrack, which has been excellently crafted to compliment the narrative.
With some interesting twists and turns, Carlos Through the Tall Grass takes us on an entertaining, sweet and humorous ride. Watch the trailer below!