“Mountains”

There is a quiet beauty to co-writer and director Monica Sorelle's "Mountains," a reserved drama that packs quite the powerful punch. Her film features a small-scale story with a bunch of moving parts, all coming together to capture the immigrant experience in America and the differing views between generations. 

Haitian demolition worker Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) is caught in the middle of the redevelopment craze in Miami when he's tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. He longs for his aspiration of buying a new house for his wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier), who works as a seamstress to bring in money for the family. Their college dropout son Xavier Jr. (Chris Renois) has moved back home, and he rejects many of the customs of his homeland. He refuses to speak Creole with his parents and instead insists on using English, and he wants nothing more than to fit in with his new friends. To do this, Junior has been moonlighting as a stand-up comic with a routine that pokes fun at his Haitian background for big laughs.

The film expresses the societal obstacles that some immigrants face in their pursuit of the American dream. The family is hardworking, each in their own way. Xavier has a job that requires backbreaking labor and has high expectations of his only son, while Junior struggles from being caught between two communities. There's an authentic father and son dynamic at play here, and these are characters that are universally relatable in many ways.

The performances from the strong cast are terrific, and the story is engaging. However, there is a lot of filler that adds to the very slow pacing, including several scenes of in-your-face symbolism that's tied to the demolition of homes. Despite Sorelle and co-writer Robert Colom underestimating their audience at times, "Mountains" is an earnest story about ambition and determination that tells a familiar story in a refreshing way.

By: Louisa Moore