Expiration Date / Fecha de Caducidad (2011); drama review

Spanish poster artwork for the film Expiration Date (Fecha de Caducidad).

Causal Connections by Linh

Expiration Date took almost ten years for director, writer and producer Kenya Marquez to bring to fruition, and the result is an award-winning directorial debut, winning her numerous awards including the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Miami Film Festival. Expiration Date has all the right mix of intrigue, mystery and drama. However, there are some unanswered questions about characters and their situations that may act as a disadvantage, hence bringing uncertainty and lack of closure for some viewers. On the other hand, the lack of details can add to the mysterious nature of the characters and their connections with each other in the narrative.

NURTURING NATURE: Ramona (Ana Ofelia Murguía)   is devoted to her son Osvaldo (Eduardo España) in the film Expiration Date (Fecha de Caducidad). Image: Roadkill Productions.

Expiration Date begins in the living room of middle-aged mother Ramona’s (Ana Ofelia Murguía) home where she is cutting her adult son Osvaldo’s (Eduardo España) toenails while he sits and watches television. She accidentally cuts the big toenail on his left foot too close and it begins to bleed. Annoyed and in pain, Osvaldo leaves the house to get new shoes, but he doesn’t return for dinner. Three days later, Ramona goes to the Forensics Medical Centre to identify corpses in the hope that one of them might be her son. In the waiting room, she meets an odd and slightly unkempt man named Genaro (Damián Alcázar) an amateur forensic enthusiast who gives her his business card. In the forensics cold room, Ramona attempts to identify her son only by looking for a bleeding big toe on their left foot. The only body which Ramona did not inspect was decapitated and the shoes that were still worn did not belong to her son.

Saddened at failing to find her son in the morgue, Ramona is befriended by Milagros (Marta Aura) the forensic centre’s receptionist who wants to help her find Osvaldo. When Ramona arrives home, she notices a young woman, Mariana (Marisol Centeno) moving in next door. The film then splits into three separate narrative threads, with the mystery of finding Osvaldo linking Ramona, Genaro and Mariana, showing the narrative from each other’s perspectives. This technique overlaps and intersects the three separate narratives giving the viewer a sense of ambiguity, mystery and insights into the characters as they interact with each other throughout the film.

ESSENTIAL ESCAPE: Mariana (Marisol Centeno) flees a life of abuse and fear in the film Expiration Date (Fecha de Caducidad). Image: Roadkill Productions.

Elements of surprise and curiousness are brought about by the excellent editing by Felipe Gómez and Juan Manuel Figueroa during the three separate narrative threads; and the cinematography by Javier Morón adds an atmosphere of dark suspicion with his use of darkness and light in many scenes, casting shadows of doubt between the characters. Director Kenya Márquez brings together a top-notch cast who all give sterling performances, and the film cleverly delivers the universal themes of death and devotion using a creative narrative technique.

DEATH DEALER: Genaro (Damián Alcázar) is unwittingly linked to Osvaldo's death due to his forensic work in the film Expiration Date (Fecha de Caducidad). Image: Roadkill Productions.

Director: Kenya Márquez

Writers: Kenya Márquez (screenplay), Alfonso Suárez (screenplay)

Cast: Ana Ofelia Murguía, Damián Alcázar, Marisol Centeno, Eduardo España, Marta Aura, Jorge Zarate, Catalina López, Eduardo Villalpando, Laura de Ita

Producers: Karla Uribe, Kenya Márquez

Cinematographer: Javier Morón

Original Music Composers: Mario Osuna, Alejandro Segovia

Film Editors: Felipe Gómez, Juan Manuel Figueroa

Language: Spanish with English subtitles

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes