Tenoch Huerta as Mendel
The lead character Mendel plays a Mexican biologist based in New York. Mendel is tormented by faded and unclear memories of traumatic events he suffered as a child when he lived in Angangueu, near the magical butterfly forests of Michoacán in Mexico. Mendel and his brother Simón (Noé Hernández) seem to have miraculously survived a terrible flood that killed his parents and destroyed their home. Now, Mendel is immersed in his New York laboratory researching the genetic structures of optics and pigments involved in the evolution of butterfly wings, but his nights and days are permeated by the recurring blurred and watery memories of the tragic events. The role is portrayed with underplayed subtlety by Tenoch Huerta Mejía (who shone so brightly in Alonso Ruizpalacios’ ‘Güeros’ (2014), Cary Joji Fukunaga’s stunning ‘Sin Nombre’ (2009), in Netflix’s ‘Narcos: Mexico’-2018 and the short ‘Debris’(2017) by Julio O. Ramos, to name a few).
Tenoch Huerta as Mendel in the laboratory
Named Mendel, after the pioneering geneticist Gregor Mendel, the protagonist’s quiet introverted existence in the laboratory, working with his colleague Bob (William Mapother) for an important paper on genetics, is irrevocably shaken when he has to return home for the funeral of his much-loved grandmother who brought the brothers up and liked to tell Mendel he had an ‘old soul’. (A charming and magnetic cameo performance by Angelina Peláez as Abuela Rosa).
At the funeral, the strained relationship with his bitter elder brother re-surfaces. Simón is deeply resentful of Mendel’s ‘success’ in New York, while he felt obliged to continue to work in dangerous conditions in the mines to keep food on the table for his family. He judges Mendel for having avoided the responsibilities of having a family. Gradually details are revealed that oblige Mendel to face the traumas that have haunted him over the years. Mendel feels as if he is in limbo, his sense of identity, interwoven with family traditions and customs, tear him apart emotionally. The return of the prodigal son is not appreciated here. Mendel searches to touch base by rekindling his ‘Nahual’, or companion spirit, identifying as a bird who can fly. It is no coincidence that he chooses to date a girl who likes to go on a trapeze! In much the same way as he conducts his research into evolution and genetics, Mendel searches for his identity and his own morphology, gradually revealing his own ‘metamorphosis’.
Monarch butterflies
Alexis Gambis:
“The Monarch butterfly becomes his alter- ego. He starts dreaming about Monarch butterflies, and like the Monarch butterfly, they share this journey of migration, as both of them migrate from North America to Mexico every year …. The children perform a dance in the town of Angangueo, where the girls are dressed up as Monarch butterflies. The boys are not so advanced, they are pre- metamorphosis, so they are caterpillars and chrysalis and some of them are also trees.”
French- Venezuelan director Alexis Gambis (The Fly Room (2014) is a biologist himself, and he founded the Imagine Science Film Festival. He wrote and directed ‘Son of Monarch’, and, with the eye of a scientist, he explores the blurred mists between documentary and fiction, with a sensitivity to animal perspectives, here represented by the superb Monarch butterfly.
Alexis Gambis the Writer and Director
He describes ‘Son of Monarch’ as:
“a film about immigration, about ritual, climate change, environmental justice, about borders and about the absurdity of having walls especially for flying migratory creatures such as butterflies! … My hope is to combine and show the different flavours of science cinema, whether it’is pure data coming from the laboratory or whether it’s fiction, animation, documentary or performance to give us a broader perspective of how we think about issues.”
This process is labelled ‘scientific storytelling’. In 2016, he launched a sister portal ‘Labocine’, which he likes to call the ‘Netflix for science’:
“the VOD platform provides a virtual ecosystem to experience science cinema in all its flavours by hybridizing forms and fostering a dialogue between scientists, artists and educators”.
‘Son of Monarch’ (2020) held its international première at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and has been awarded the ‘2021 Alfred P. Sloan Prize’ for depicting a scientific theme as lead story.
Kaarlo Isaacs as Mendel as a boy
In the film ‘Son of Monarch’, Gambis creates a tapestry of a life conveyed through dreams, flashbacks and the intense observations of the intricacies of a butterfly’s wing, to explore the emotions of Mendel’s heart. Gambis sees migration and immigration as two sides of a coin. The butterfly can fly over borders and walls, without documents. The dreamy and seemingly fragile environment of the beautiful Monarch butterflies penetrates this film, so that we also become immersed and trapped in the watery dreams of Mendel’s mind. He is drawn to re-enact old customs with his friend Vicente (Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez) who believes his soulmate spirit or Nahual, is a lion, and they conduct a simple ceremony with the grace and reverence of a religious ritual.
Despite the magic of the themes and the story, the film would benefit from tightening up on the editing to make it a little shorter. Nevertheless, Gambis has scored in his choice of crew. Cinematographer Alejandro Mejía captured some stunning images and the story is beautifully staged thanks to the Production Design of Sofia Guzmán. The score must also be mentioned as the sounds Cristóbal Maryán created may be minimal, but are intense and atmospheric (performed by the Cuarteto Ruvalacava).
Tenoch Huerta as Mendel
Using Mendel’s voice, Gambis explores the magic of the Monarch butterflies and their amazing journey from Southern Canada to Mexico, relating the myths that grew up in the indigenous communities around this extraordinary yearly migration to the forests of Michoacán in Mexico: -
“They say the butterflies arrive on the Day of the Dead because they are the souls of our visiting ancestors… When the Monarch Butterflies arrive at Lake Superior, they don’t cross it directly, they make a little detour in the middle of the lake and then they continue to go south as if there was something in the centre of the lake that was preventing them from going any further…. An obstacle… They say that in the middle of the lake, there once existed one of the highest mountains in North America … the mountain is no longer there, but the butterflies still remember it.”
Teaser for all the films by Alexis Gambis: https://alexisgambis.com/about
SON OF MONARCH (2020)
Written & Directed by Alexis Gambis
Producers Maria Altamirano (p.g.a) / Abraham Dayan (p.g.a)
Music Cristóbal Maryán
DOP Alejandro Mejía
Editors Alexis Gambis/ Èlia Gasull Balada
Art Direction Maria Camila Botero/ Lia Nessim Macía
Cast
Paulina Gaitan Brisa (niece)
Tenoch Huerta Mendel
William Mapother Bob ( boss)
Electra Avellan Lucia
Alexia Rasmussen Sara
Noé Hernandez Simon
Angelina Peláez Abuela Rosa
Lázaro Gabino Rodríguez Vicente
Kaarlo Isaacs Young Mendel
