Patricio Looked at a Star: A weird little relic

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Maybe. If you’re the type of person who likes to sit in a room and just watch the dust motes dance in the light, you’ll dig this. If you need a movie to move, to have a point, or to keep you awake with tension, you are going to hate every single second of this.

It’s not a film that demands your attention; it just sits there, waiting for you to notice it. Like a neighbor who never says much but is always around.

The quiet stuff

There’s this moment—maybe twenty minutes in—where Patricio just stares at a wall. Or maybe it was a window? It doesn’t even matter. The camera lingers on his face, and he’s doing absolutely nothing. It’s not profound, it’s just there. It reminded me a bit of the aimless wandering you see in Roads of Destiny, where the silence does more heavy lifting than the dialogue ever could.

The lighting feels very of-its-time, a bit flat, but sometimes that flatness is exactly what you need. It makes everything feel grounded, like you're watching a home movie that accidentally got released to the public. 🎞️

Odd little details

• The way María Valenti holds her teacup. She grips it like she’s afraid it might float away.
• The background extras in the street scenes. Half of them seem to have forgotten they are on camera and are just waiting for their lunch break.
• The score. It’s mostly just a hum, until it isn't.

There’s a scene involving a chair that goes on for way too long. It’s awkward. You can tell the director was trying to sell some kind of heavy emotion, but it just lands as a dude standing next to a piece of furniture. It made me laugh, honestly. It felt like the movie was trying to convince me this moment was deep when it was really just a guy being a guy.

Final thoughts? Or not.

I don't think this movie has a moral, and I don't think it cares if you like it. It’s not trying to be The Circus or anything with grand stakes. It’s just a collection of moments that happen to be attached to each other by a thread.

Some of the dialogue sounds like it was written on the back of a napkin five minutes before the cameras started rolling. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It feels human, even when it’s failing. 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, I finished my coffee before the credits rolled. That’s probably the best review I can give it.