Johana Fragoso Blendl

The film 'Suffocation' is dark, as the lead actress struggles to re-establish her life. Alma (the mesmerizing albino actress Johana Fragoso Blendl)  has just been released from prison, having been coerced into illegal activities by her then lover Bernie (a suitably creepy Raúl Briones),  but now, she is determined to recover custody of her daughter, the equally lovely albino, Azúl Magaña Muñiz.

Alma tries to find a job.

Her efforts to find her ex- partner are thwarted at every turn with lies and even more so, her attempts to find her child.   Surrounded by discrimination due to her colour and unjustified violence, she relies on people she thinks of as friends.  One helps her to find a job caring for a hypochondriac, Don Clemente (Enrique Arreola) with a soul tormented by his sad past.  He seriously believes he will die an instant death, at any minute and has constant panic attacks. Having learnt some nursing while in prison, Alma takes on the job of helping him.   Clemente sees her as an archangel who will lead him to his salvation, without being aware that he might also be instrumental in helping her as well thanks to the healing effect of human bonding.

Enrique Arreola and Johana Fragoso Blendl

Alma’s previous attempts to find a job were rejected on the basis of her conviction, but also interestingly, for being an albino.  for which she suffers discrimination and constant insults. Lost and basically friendless, much like the lonely, isolated Clemente, who is obsessively OCD, the two gradually develop an understanding and a bond.

Alma’s ex- partner, Bernie, had persuaded her to steal prescription medicines from the Pharmacy where she worked, to sell illegally, for which she was convicted while he got off scot free. But this man, whose interest in women barely rises above how he far he can manipulate them, is the father of  Alma’s child, Azúl.  The child is in his care and he is brutal and harsh with her, treating her as an inconvenience, but his machismo will not allow him to relinquish control.  So Alma is told they are in another part of the country, which she believes, until she accidentally spots them in the market one day.  Yet, the friendless Alma has no one else to turn to except Concha, who was her colleague at the same pharmacy, in her hopes to locate Bernie. Concha, meanwhile, is determined to bag a husband, whoever he may be. She is pathologically obsessed with wedding dresses and bride paraphernalia and sees Alma as an unwanted nuisance who could disrupt her well-laid plans.  Alma has few friends in this low life environment.

'Asfixia' Poster

Throughout this film, water is a powerful theme. It is the stuff of dreams and nightmares. It flows like an undercurrent throughout the production. A powerful metaphor for the claustrophobic world of Alma, both in reality, as storm water floods her little room, her fears and her mind.  Her patient, Don Clemente is also trapped in a similar purgatory.  He cannot tolerate harsh lights, so patient and nurse are constantly in the dark, be it night or day. The feeling of suffocation is real at all levels. It  is greatly emphasized by  the helplessness she experiences when faced with her fight for her child, the reality of her conditions at work and in her dark damp room.  She has the feeling that everyone is pushing her away, lying to her and  trying to pull wool over her eyes, blinding her to what is really going on.  There are few characters in this film but they are carefully developed, Mónica del Carmen excels as Concha, with her contradictory emotions contrasting the grimmer reality of Don Clemente. Despite the darkness, there is hope in this film that leads to light. 

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https://latinreel.com/films/suffocation/

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Kenya Márquez is an accomplished director. With her writing partner Alfonso Suárez, they previously worked together on the award-winning ‘Fecha de Caducidad’  (Expiry Date 2012).  In this film, the lead character Ramona, who has searched endlessly for her only son Osvaldo, is shattered when she discovers that he is dead. This theme of motherhood is close to Márquez’s heart, as it is echoed in ‘Asfixia’ once again, in the pain of Alma in her search for her child, that is constantly taken out of her reach.

Kenya Márquez

Kenya Marquez was initially pursuing very different careers. Having ambitions to become a novelist, she worked for eight years as a journalist, having applied and been rejected from all the film schools to which she had applied. She then decided to sell up and give Europe a try. It was there that destiny played a part in her life. By chance, in a telephone cubicle she met Pedro Almodóvar. She confessed her passionate desire to make films and the fact that she had only faced rejection. He simply told her to “go back to your country, write a screenplay and fight to get it made”. She took his advice on board and never looked back.

Her first short, ‘Cruz’ (1998) which she then dedicated to Pedro Almodóvar, was selected for the International Film Festival of Guadalajara, her home town. It went on to win prizes in other festivals as did her subsequent short ‘La Mesa Servida’ (2001), that won Best Short Film at the International Film festival in New York. 

‘Asfixia’ (Suffocation 2018) is a promising second feature, inspiring empathy as it explores different forms of love and motherhood.

‘Asfixia’ (2018) Directed by Kenya Márquez

Screenplay         Kenya Márquez and Alfonso Suárez

Production         Iliana Reyes / Kenya Márquez

Music                  Fernando Arias/ Yolihuani Curiel /Fesway/ Sofía Orozco

DOP                     Javier Moron

CAST:

Alma                   Joana Fragoso Blendl

Concha               monica del carmen

Bernie                 Raul Briones

Clemente             Enrique  Arreola

Production Company     Puerco Rosa Producciones.