Manzano’s debut feature film is an ambitious portrait of Guayaquil’s erratic, disenchanted middle-class youth. A punk ballad told from the point of view of nine characters through non-linear stories that sometimes interconnect and at other times share a sort of emotional resonance. The pieces gradually connect together to form a picture of a generation of privileged youth each enacting their own form of rebellion against expectations.
The youngsters include Lucas (Macchiavello), a law student whose belief in an “anarchy of imagination”, and an increasing reliance on sleeping pills, leads him ever further from the mainstream. Meanwhile his supplier Paula (Peñaherrera) collects other people’s moments of happiness as she manages a condition that makes her unable to feel physical pain. Martín (Holst) and Gloria (Baldion) struggle to maintain their relationship in the face of an unusual request from his ex, Antonia (Obrist). After Ana (Moscoso) and Rafa’s (Fajardo) relationship reaches a violent conclusion she becomes obsessed with the love life of her teenage neighbour Sofía (Espinoza).