The Awakening of the Ants: Antonella Sudassasi Furnis’ small and poetic drama shows that even a loving relationship can be suffocating and require the reconquest of oneself. It is a delicate experience, one where most of what is happening is within, not without. In that sense, the quiet and effective performance by Daniela Valenciano is key; Leynar Gomez is also effective as the loving but self-centered and oblivious husband; the two kids, Avril Alpízar and Isabella Moscoso are appropriately lovable and annoying. The way the film is shot by cinematographer Andrés Campos, using often a tight handheld camera, is instrumental to increase the sense of suffocation the protagonist goes through. The pace is, expectedly, a bit more to the slow side.