In October Miracles Come True

Only rarely does a production from Peru stray into our cinemas. The comedy "In October Miracles Come True" has now managed to snag a spot in German cinemas, which proves to be a real stroke of luck for arthouse lovers.

The film tells the story of reclusive pawnbroker Clemente (Bruno Odar), who approaches every aspect of his life with a professional detachment. Whether dealing with his customers, or even having sex, which he only gets from prostitutes, Clemente rejects emotional closeness seemingly on principle. But when he finds a baby in his apartment one evening, his own world order is completely thrown off balance. Clemente seeks help from his neighbour Sofia (Gabriela Velásquez) - for a fee, of course. But he doesn't yet suspect that his new courageous inhabitants will gradually change his attitude to life.

"In October Miracles Do Come True" is a very quiet comedy that draws its wit not only from its characters and dialogue, but also from its intense visual language. In long, quiet shots, the actors can unfold all their skills and thus give the viewer an amusing cinematic experience of a somewhat special kind. It's very nice to watch how Celement's shell slowly cracks open. So at first he sees the baby as just an object ("That thing there is guilt"), the loss of which would be easy to settle ("If they lose it, I'll take it out of their wages"). But the more time he spends in the presence of others he has been forced to let into his life, the more he realizes that breaking out of loneliness is worthwhile.

This realization could easily have led to a more pathetic finale. But brothers Daniel and Diego Vega end their film exactly as they began it: quietly, unassumingly, and enormously powerful precisely because of that. The way there is full of quirky characters, scenes of quiet, charming comedy and understated emotionality. Definitely not a film for mainstream audiences, but arthouse cinema regulars and lovers shouldn't miss this award-winning work. Worth Seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp