‘Leap Year’ directed by Michael Rowe is his debut shot in a minimalist set. Set in one room the movie brings to light the loneliness of the main character Laura Lopez (played by Mónica Del Carmen) and her desperation as a woman. The film chronicles 29 days in the life of a young, dispirited Mexican woman who waits in her apartment while a string of male visitors come and go. The movie got the Camera d’Or award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It is from the telephone call that we are revealed of all the details of the protagonist. We discover that she is a business journalist who moved to Mexico City from rural Oaxaca. The 29th day in the calendar is circled red and the film becomes a countdown to this mysterious date. She lies to her mother about the beautiful things she is enjoying which actually isn’t so. Though ‘Leap Year’ has lot of sex, the eroticism shown ensures that it is not about the joy of sex but about a desperate lonely woman with deep dark secrets of her own. It is in fact the story of survival. The film also stars Arturo as a sadist (played by Gustavo Sanchez parra) who returns to her again and again.
