Nuestra Natacha: A bit dusty, but strangely sweet

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel like they were pulled out of a time capsule—complete with all the charm and the slightly creaky acting—you’ll probably dig Nuestra Natacha. It’s for the folks who want to see early cinema trying to be brave about education and freedom. If you need snappy, modern pacing or you break out in hives at the sight of a stagey, black-and-white melodrama, you should probably skip it.

Honestly, the whole thing feels like a play that just happened to have a camera pointed at it. Sometimes that’s a drag, but here? It kind of works. You get these long, unbroken moments where the actors are clearly listening to each other, even if they aren't always talking like real people.

The vibe

The school setting is exactly what you’d expect—lots of high collars, stern looks, and people walking around with heavy books. It’s all very proper until it isn't. Watching the girls try to be themselves while the faculty looks on with those incredibly judgmental eyebrows is weirdly relatable.

There’s a specific scene involving a garden and a secret conversation that felt like it went on for three minutes too long. You can literally watch the light change through the trees while they figure out what to say next. It wasn't perfect, but it felt... quiet. Real. I found myself checking my own watch, which is usually a bad sign, but I couldn't look away from the way the actress playing Natacha kept fidgeting with her shawl.

It reminded me a bit of the stuffy, high-pressure environments you see in Conrad in Quest of His Youth, though this is a totally different beast. You don't get the same sense of wanderlust here; it’s all trapped energy.

• The lighting in the library scenes is surprisingly moody.
• Some of the extras in the background have no idea what to do with their hands.
• The dialogue is very, very wordy. Like, they don't just say 'no,' they explain why for five minutes.

Final thoughts

Is it a masterpiece? Nah. It’s a bit stiff. But it has a heart that beats pretty loud, even when the script is being a little too precious for its own good. Sometimes a movie doesn't need to be brilliant to be worth the two hours. Sometimes it just needs to be honest about its own limitations. 🎞️

It’s not as chaotic or fun as (many-scrappy-returns), obviously, but it’s a nice change of pace if you want something that actually tries to say something instead of just filling up the screen.