Nervous Translation is an extraordinary cinematic rendering of a child’s eye view of the world set in the Philippines in the 1980s. 8 year old Yael is a shy, contemplative girl, living in her own private world. She lives at home with her mother who leaves her alone for long periods, while her absent father works in Saudi Arabia. Her only connection with him is the recorded cassettes he sends her mother, which she listens to incessantly in secret. She tries to make sense of the adult world from misunderstood fragments and nervous thoughts.
“A delicate sensation. Boasting fantastic imagery, arrhythmical cuts, an inventive screenplay and a wonderfully nuanced performance from its child star, Nervous Translation is at once a powerful rite-of-passage drama and an allegory about the uncertainty of life in the Philippines in the late 1980s.”- Clarence Tsui, The Hollywood Reporter.
Tagalog, Filipino
English