| Director | A.D. Freese |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film |
| Runtime | 99 min |
| Country | Colombia, United States |
The film opens with the delicate voiceover of Gabriel Rojas (Blanc), figuratively speaking to his sons from death where his boys were mothered by separate American women. Ed and Dion are introduced as children through nostalgic, grainy home movies, until we meet them in the present as young men, speaking to each other for the first time since childhood, facing the busy road behind an industrial airport. As Dion, the oldest of the two, exhibiting a worldly demeanor yet deep insecurities, smokes a cigarette and engages in distant, awkward small talk (effortlessly switching between Spanish and English) with the younger Eduardo, or Ed, a childish "frat boy," it becomes apparent that a single event has obligated the brothers to meet again: their father is dead (the cause: cirrhosis) and a will he has left behind with his family in Colombia pleads for his sons to return home for his funeral.
The men uncomfortably joke around with one another as they arrive at their relatives' house, attempting to bury their true feelings: they do not really want to be here and each harbor misgivings, notably Dion, of the lack of parental affection their father had given them. Despite this, Ed and Dion vow to honor their father's last wishes, staying together in an attic room and reuniting (or in other cases, being introduced to for the first time) their many cousins, including a troubled young man, Jairo (Arciniegas) who has bipolar disorder (though refuses to take medication) and a young woman who Ed expresses sexual attraction to (indicating that he didn't know her well as a boy).
Sometime during the memorial service, the brothers gain legal access to the will in writing as well as snapshots and detailed notes, learning that their dad, Gabriel has something larger in store for them: he wants his sons to partake in a country road trip from one location to the next, visiting old friends, relatives and places in order to learn about their essentially absent father and the life he lived (an opportunity he had lost when he was alive). All the while, Gabriel desires for his ashes to be scattered throughout the country in such places that held emotional meaning to him. The men respect Gabriel's request and embark on their odyssey, riding by bus and hopping from city to city (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena and Santa Marta), following the trail of breadcrumbs in their father's photographs.