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France · 2011
1h 45m
Director Mathieu Demy
Starring Salma Hayek, Mathieu Demy, Geraldine Chaplin, Chiara Mastroianni
Genre Drama
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A real estate agent from Paris travels to Los Angeles, the city he grew up in, to settle his late mother’s estate. There, he discovers a mysterious photograph that sends him on an impromptu journey to Tijuana, in search of a woman named Lola so that he can discover her connection to his mother.
The primary appeal of Americano lies in witnessing the attempt of a famous progeny to forge his own creative path, as Demy's struggle with artistic inheritance resonates throughout unmoored Martin's voyage between past and present.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Though not explicitly autobiographical, this film is deeply personal, and while the nature of cinema is very much on its mind, it rarely feels insular or self-conscious. Instead, it is wistful and nostalgic, and at the same time full of restless curiosity.
Becomes a clumsy gringo approximation of something else. In this case, it's the old respectable-man-obsessed-with-fallen-angel cliché, which Demy fils tweaks with broad melodramatic strokes and Freudian flotsam, as well as a complete lack of focus or storytelling chops.
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Scenes of the director as a school-age boy in a Varda film are haunting, but end up simply sparking a desire to see Varda's work.
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
Americano, which Demy also wrote and stars in, is an ambivalent, occasionally touching work of homage to his parents, yet one whose clumsiness only underscores the superiority of their directly quoted films.
Peel away the many layers of reference, and all that's left of Americano is the raw need of a lonely, confused young man who's distant from his family, awash in vague memories, and struggling to find himself. This is less a movie than a patient for pop psychologists.
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