ugust Evening” has a very human, heartfelt story, adequate acting, and pleasant cinematography. But what it doesn’t have is a sense of pacing. Painfully slow too much of the time, most of the poignancy of the film is lost as the camera loiters mercilessly on dull activities and static faces that have finished delivering meaningful expressions ages ago.

Jaime (Pedro Castaneda) and his wife Maria (Raquel Gavia) live together in a poverty-stricken town in Texas, where they trudge through life, working hard and enjoying each other’s company. Their daughter-in-law Lupe (Veronica Loren) lives with them, unable to detach herself from the painful memories of her husband who died tragically several years ago. When Maria dies unexpectedly, Jaime is so distraught that he loses his focus on caring for himself and Lupe, and ends up losing his job and his house.

For a time, the two rely on Jaime’s son Victor (Abel Becerra), who provides them with a room to stay in, but tensions between the estranged family members force them to separate once again. Next they travel to the home of Jaime’s daughter Alice (Sandra Rios), who lives quite comfortably in an extravagant residence with her wealthy husband. Alice is also unprepared to deal with Jaime’s increasing drunkenness and Lupe’s uncomfortable presence, resulting in the inseparable duo returning to the road to find alternative housing.

This time, Lupe lands a job at a dreadfully monotonous factory, while Jaime scours the streets and neighborhoods, looking for random tasks such as mowing lawns. Jaime eventually realizes that he can’t remain dependent on Lupe’s good will, and attempts to marry her off to a nice boy in town, Luis (Walter Perez). Completely unwilling at first, Lupe soon learns to appreciate Luis’ sincere advances, recognizing for herself that a drastic change is inevitable.

The themes of righting wrongs, making amends, the importance of family, and the power of love are all nicely handled and beautifully presented. Each character is brought to life in careful detail, while the simple story creates an authenticity beyond most big-budget pictures. The problem with “August Evening” is not in its ability to relate a story, but rather in the specific storytelling techniques it utilizes. Instead of focusing on the plot and using the characters to advance the tale, the camera persists for lengthy periods of time on trivial minutia.

With an initial shaky-cam strategy, much of the film is shot to duplicate real life – in flat, warm colors that represent commonplace settings and natural lighting from a dusty desert town. But with the unnecessary attention to generic activities, such as washing dishes, eating food, lingering on close-up expressions, and reminiscing about the day’s events, everything moves at a snail’s pace, even though the film is just barely over two hours. The simplicity of the film is commendable, as are the honest and charming performances – but staying aboard this wearisome cruise will likely be too taxing a task for the average viewer.

– Mike Massie