Release Date – TBC, Cert – TBC, Run-time – 1 hour 36 minutes, Director – Martín Rejtman
Separated from his wife (Manuela Oyarzún) and struggling to lead his yoga practice Gustavo (Esteban Bigliardi) seeks help from various health retreats and outlets, leading to a tangled series of overlapping relationships.
“I realised my life was becoming a world of students and ex-students” says yoga teacher Gustavo (Esteban Bigliardi), he’s struggling to lead at his practice in the wake of a worsening knee injury and his separation from his wife, Vanessa (Manuela Oyarzún), playing on his mind. In the wake of his world spiralling downwards relationships flow in and out of his life with no proper ending, leading him to reassess things and seek out other health retreats and outlets. An entangled set of events sees him jump from one point to another and back again, seemingly uncertain as to whether they will work for him or not.
The Practice tries to play as a two-hander between Gustavo and Vanessa, with a handful of their respective relationships and actions overlapping at some point across the narrative, however the focus is certainly on Gustavo. As things develop Vanessa’s arc certainly breaks through more, but it more often than not feels like something of an afterthought to the meandering of the protagonist’s narrative. In much the same way the film goes through its events weaving from one thing to another, not always being fully drawn in by the audience.
Such a feeling means that the humour doesn’t always come through perhaps as much as the film would hope. Laughs don’t exactly come through, instead the more comedic sequences and moments bring about a couple of exhales and amusement every now and then but not much more. Narrative soon takes up the bulk of the 96-minute run-time as characters cross over from various places and bring a busier feeling to the proceedings. Things border on feeling as if they’re close to expanding beyond Gustavo and Vanessa, as if more branches will form amongst the already crowded run-time.
Yet, by the end things feel as if they’ve largely been a set of connected moments and instances. The ending feels as if it just happens, as if the film just finishes and that’s it. It’s in part down to the slight bits and pieces nature of the developments that we see Gustavo experience as he tries to climb back up to his more peaceful state of mind. The world keeps kicking him, or rather letting him down, with occasional moments of amusement to be found along the way. However, while watchable the film never feels completely involving as it moves along its way fine enough but not in the most memorable of fashions.
The Practice meanders through its events and interweaving interactions with occasional moments of amusement but never quite enough to fully hook into within the busy-feeling run-time.
Just A Little Bit Random 