Ruido Rosa

Pounded with tropical rain, the streets of the Colombian town of Barranquilla are deserted. Behind the flickering lights emanating from inconspicuous buildings, Luis and Carmen make their individual homes. Luis is an old curmudgeon who earns a living fixing electrical appliances – but customers are few and far between, so the man walks about town posting ads offering his services. Carmen is a reclusive woman who works the reception desk in a remote three-star hotel – and one day her radio goes on the blink. A sensitive movie unfolding in a singularly atmospheric rain-soaked town presents two lonely people, one of whom is succumbing to desolation while the other holds on to a healthy enthusiasm and lust for life. Their coming together isn't easy, but such things in life never are. Imbued with intimacy, the movie forgoes the usual barrage of dramatic events, preferring to part the haze of melancholy in order to show, by degrees, the cheerless day-to-day of protagonists whose age does not invalidate their right to love and to fulfill their dreams. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)