A Silent Love

A cool, unpredictable comedy of mismatched desires lies within A Silent Love, whose plotline sounds like a standard sex-farce setup: A shy, middle-aged Canadian film professor marries a much younger Mexican mail-order bride. Even as the newlyweds master each other's languages, it becomes apparent that good intentions can't entirely bridge the real obstacle: the husband is quickly falling in love with his mother-in-law. Writer-director Federico Hidalgo and co-writer Paulina Robles paint the characters in broad strokes—uptight WASP, warm Latina, lonely widow—then let the cast fill in details that make them feel awkwardly (sometimes even unlikably) real.