Sundance Film Review: ‘God does not hold against you time spent in hot water’

At the top of my list of films from Sundance Film Festival this year is “Hot Water.” This film follows a mother and her son traveling across the United States in an old Subaru Outback — though the model of the car wasn’t integral to the story, I believed it to be a sweet touch to the mise-en-scène. For those who don’t know exactly what that means — I certainly didn’t — it is essentially everything in front of the camera, everything captured in the frame.  

In “Hot Water,” this is the actors, lighting, clothing and location all coming together and being presented to the viewer. I believe mise-en-scène is best described as the feeling after taking in all the information presented to you, and the feeling this film delivers to the viewer is one of nostalgia, timelessness — no, that’s not quite right. It is the feeling that time has no constraint or control. Every step of the journey we follow takes effort and strain, scraping minutes off the clock. But in “Hot Water,” this doesn’t seem to affect the characters quite the same way it would in the thrillers or actions that completely depend on the story moving. Watching this film is taking a moment to step away from narrative urgency and into an experience. As viewers, we are enveloped into the scene, exploring the relationship between a mother and son as it would naturally unfold — with time. 

At the center of “Hot Water” lies the relationship between a tired, stressed mother, Layal, and her emotional, slightly problematic son, Daniel. After getting expelled for hitting another student, Daniel is forced to consider staying with his estranged father in California to complete high school. Under the stress of her mother’s declining health and her own strenuous life as a professor, Layal is hesitant to allow this. Ultimately, deciding it’s best for Daniel, she drives him to Colorado to meet her ex-husband halfway. 

These events and decisions set our characters on a long, chaotic and insightful road trip, exploring the American landscape as well as the two’s roles in each other’s lives. Most importantly, it examines the future of their bond. Our view of Layal and Daniel’s development stretches the entire film, with a few interruptions from other characters offering a life lesson, obstacle or a comedically awkward experience.  

I would hate to spoil the experience of this sacred and intimate arc any further for those who haven’t seen “Hot Water.” So, all I can say is this film is best described with themes of shared time, familial kinship, harmony, patience, solace, endurance and presence.  

Beautifully shot and composed, the film consists of lingering silhouetted views, open landscapes and authentic life. Having grown up in Utah, I felt a bit emotional when they drove through the western landscape of red rock formations and mountainous deserts. The cinematography’s patience gives each scene room to breathe, creating a sense of fullness that felt resonant. My family has a history of long road trips through this terrain. I couldn’t help but connect with this film in so many ways. “Hot Water” is a thoughtful, intimate journey — a film that holds time so dearly, much like the quiet, tender and occasionally chaotic shared moments it portrays.