Tribeca 2021: ‘Perfume de Gardenias’ Film Review | Perfume de Gardenias, a personal film, directed by Macha Colón and written by Gisela Rosario Ramos (Colóns real name), premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in the Viewpoints category.
Isabel (Luz Maria Rondon), an elderly woman living in a middle-class neighborhood in Puerto Rico, has just become a widow. Her husband has passed away, and her adult daughter is staying with her to help her with the funeral. As Isabel mourns this loss, she doesn’t know how to occupy her time moving forward. The uncertainty changes, however, when she crafts a beautiful custom-made funeral for her husband—and it catches the attention of Toña (Sharon Riley), a pious but domineering woman who involves herself in community events, including local funerals. Toña is the self-appointed leader of a coterie of gossipy elderly women from the neighborhood, and she enlists Isabel to put her unusual talents to good use and design custom, idiosyncratic funerals for her ailing neighbors. As Isabel agrees to perform this peculiar line of work—offering seniors a chance to dictate how their lives should be honored, before they die— she also finds new purpose in her own life.
Perfume de Gardenias bears great resemblance to Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s movies. Volver in particular — where matriarchy is law, men usually play lesser roles, and are often portrayed as weak and mediocre. Another aspect that connects both directors is how their plots smoothly transition between drama and dark comedic humor, prompting us to laugh in situations that wouldn’t be considered laughable at first glance. Colón’s intuitive and colorful approach to a story rooted in grief, death and tradition, creates a space for the viewer to experience authentic storytelling. Despite the somber theme, Perfume de Gardenias is bright, high in spirit, – no pun intended – and even joyful.
Director Macha Colón, a LGBTQIA activist, calls herself more than a multidisciplinary artist. She jokingly says she’s an undisciplined creator with a comical and lighthearted point of view, and we can see that jocose tone throughout the film. Colón stated in an interview that she made a point of showing the climate in Puerto Rico, post-earthquake, but wanted to do that through the lens of the housewives and their casual comments about quotidian affairs. She also cast the actors, specifically women that looked like her mother and the women in her family, and picked the entire production crew based on her affinity for them. Curious note: Colón appearing briefly at the end of the film, as a funeral owner, may be a tribute to English director Alfred Hitchcock.
Gisela Rosario Ramos is Macha Colón, a Puerto Rican artist. She received grants from the Art Matters Foundation and NALAC, and the United States Artists Fellowship. She is part of Northwestern University’s Puerto Rican Artist Initiative. Perfume de Gardenias is her first feature film.
DIRECTOR: Macha Colón
SCREENWRITER: Gisela Rosario Ramos
EDITOR: Juan Soto
CAST: Luz Maria Rondon, Sharon Riley, Katira Maria, Carmen Nydia Velazquez, Carmen Milagros Ortiz, Flor Joglar, Abner Rivera
PRODUCERS: Arleen Cruz-Alicea, Consuelo Castillo, Adriana Angel, Gisela Rosario Ramos
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pedro Juan Lope
Read other reviews by Adriana Daniels – Tribeca 2021: As of Yet Film Review
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