Adapted from Alejandro Zambra’s celebrated 2006 novel, Bonsái is a deeply literary film, its dual strands set eight years apart as aspiring novelist Julio reminisces of his time together with college lover Emilia. Occasionally wandering off into the wrong side of quirk, it’s a tale of kooky characters and their eccentric relationship, Julio and Emilia’s ill-fated but vibrant romance juxtaposed with the comparatively empty attraction he feels to neighbour Blanca in the “eight years later” segment of the plot. Lead Diego Noguera is engagingly melancholy throughout, the obvious sense of loss he bears at his failed relationship endearing him to us from its earliest moments, as well as the film’s early warning that Emilia will die by the film’s conclusion. Witty, if never quite hilarious, Bonsái is an alluring portrait of lost love, succinct enough in its drama to overcome the overbearing quirk so much of its story indulges in.

30 Countries in 30 Days Film #15 - Chile

An affectionate film about the passage of time.

An affectionate film about the passage of time.

Another great film by the Chilean director Cristián Jiménez. Very charming.

Really unattractive subject matter - young literature students in love - becomes a moving meditation on life, regret and everything else. Oh, and books. Hard to make a good film about books.

What if they choosen a diffent book,
if it wasn't a "In Search Of Lost Time"..

Their love might last a bit longer.

Adapted from Alejandro Zambra’s celebrated 2006 novel, Bonsái is a deeply literary film, its dual strands set eight years apart as aspiring novelist Julio reminisces of his time together with college lover Emilia. Occasionally wandering off into the wrong side of quirk, it’s a tale of kooky characters and their eccentric relationship, Julio and Emilia’s ill-fated but vibrant romance juxtaposed with the comparatively empty attraction he feels to neighbour Blanca in the “eight years later” segment of the plot. Lead Diego Noguera is engagingly melancholy throughout, the obvious sense of loss he bears at his failed relationship endearing him to us from its earliest moments, as well as the film’s early warning that Emilia will die by the film’s conclusion. Witty, if never quite hilarious, Bonsái is an alluring portrait of lost love, succinct enough in its drama to overcome the overbearing quirk so much of its story indulges in.

This Chilean relationship drama is as fragile and delicate as the miniature plant from which it takes it’s title, but carefully tended to by writer/director Jiménez (adapting a short novel by Alejandro Zambra) what initially appears to be slight material blooms into an affecting and moving story of love found and lost.

This understated deadpan comedy was beautifully filmed and overall very well-executed.