MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

By Dean Richards

On The Seventh Day is a film directed and written by Jim McKay filmed on location in Sunset Park, Brooklyn NY, and neighboring areas. Surprisingly this ambitious project was casted with no professional actors. McKay uses this to his advantage by giving the audience a realistic depiction of working-class Mexicans. He tells you a story of how life is on daily basis for the main character Jose. The sacrifices Jose makes for his family by working at a dead-end job helps the audience understand his identity.

This film tells the story about a group of undocumented Mexican immigrants who hustle six days out of the week to make ends meet. Jose and the other guys who live together and work together look forward to Sunday. The seventh day of the week is a day that is sacred to these men. It’s day to unwind, relax and forget about working long hours. So, when Jose’s boss threatens to fire him because he unwilling to sacrifice his Sunday. The group of men devise a plan to fight back.

I had a question for Jim after the movie about the cinematic properties of this film; How did you pull it off with the locations? I continued to tell him; You eliminated that sort of quick paced hustle and bustle style from being in the film. He began to explain, living in New York gave him an advantage when it came to location scouting and the overall scenic route of the movie. The movie has a neighborhood style which reminded me of central California. This fascinated me. Any time I think about a movie being shot in New York City I think of the concrete jungle; Congested tightly packed buildings, high traffic and of course the subway. When it came to the way cinematographer Charles Libin composed the shots. He maintained beautiful secondary movement on the shots with dialogue which got me really close to characters in the movie. Only showing the information needed to convey the message I was never distracted.

The time of day that is chosen helps with the use of natural lighting during the exterior shots. All the of the exterior establishing shots were essential to achieving the scenic neighborhood look. The lighting in the interior locations is subtle and gives off a warm feeling that continuously reassures the audience of how close these men are as a family.

In conclusion a story can create a reality for an audience to live through for a moment. Just for a moment I was able to place my self in the shoes of a working class undocumented Mexican hustling through the streets of NY. Understandinghow hard it is being at a job that doesn’t seem to warrant any future benefit is hard. I recommend watching this film because it gives you another view of what it means to be a Mexican immigrant in the United States. “While getting lost in all those little things that seem so important, don’t forget the little things that matter…