‘Bodies' Writer-Director Luca Bueno On Latino Representation And Showing The Humanity Within The Immigrant Experience

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4 days ago

In the short film drama Bodies, written and directed by Luca Bueno, two LAPD officers respond to a disturbance call at a home located in a neighborhood that has a majority of immigrants and minorities. As the officers investigate the situation, Officer Alvarez (Alonso Garcia) notices cultural clues that suggest something larger is at play. As he grapples with his own Latino heritage and his duties as a law enforcement agent, he begins to reflect on humanity and empathy.
Just before his short premieres at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Bueno talks to Deadline about the plight of immigrants and the importance of Latin representation.
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DEADLINE: What was the inspiration for the short?
LUCA BUENO: I feel like, as filmmakers, we have the opportunity to tackle relevant topics, and the immigration topic and the immigration debate is something that I feel like was not only relevant but still is and will forever be as well. The last couple of months and years, we've been getting absolutely bombarded by headlines, numbers and really sensational headlines. And I was like, 'I want to tell a story about this topic, but that really shows the humanity behind it.'
It was the people, the humans, the families behind the numbers, the headlines, the misinformation, the gotcha aspect of this whole migration conversation that compelled me to film this.
DEADLINE: I was reading that you're a Brazilian-born person who moved to France and then ended up in the States. So, I'm curious: how do you relate to the subject matter?
BUENO: I was born in Brazil. My family is full Brazilian to the T, and so very Latin and proud of that. I moved from Brazil to France and then to Monte Carlo when I was eight years old, and I moved back to Brazil when I was 14. And then, at 16, I moved here to the U.S. So, I've always been kind of the immigrant, the new guy, not only in the schools but also in the countries and cultures. We moved to France because of my dad's [Galvão Bueno] work and then back because of that. Then, I moved to the U.S. because I was super passionate about pursuing film. So, this thought of wanting to go somewhere in search of a better life, I completely get that. Even though I'm not in the situation of the people that I depict in the film, I can relate to the burning desire of moving somewhere in search of your dream and a better life for your family.
DEADLINE: We chatted prior to the interview about you not liking horror films too much, but it's so funny because there's some horror-style shots in here. Talk about the intention of the way you filmed your short.
BUENO: It's true that I'm not the hugest fan of horror, but most especially, gruesome horror. But I've known since I was about six years old that I wanted to be a director. So, I'm passionate about all films. My dad works in TV, my grandmother was an actress, and my grandfather was a director. So, I built those tools in my back pocket for every type of genre. This is a very serious and dark topic in the short. It's very scary. So, using those little horror techniques for directing, I think, worked for this. It's also a film about perspective. There's a little twist to it. And in adding this thriller element, I think it relates to how scary it is for people in that situation on both sides.
DEADLINE: How did you find Alonso Garcia to play Officer Alvarez?
BUENO: He's amazing. He's from Peru, so he's also Latin. It's funny, though, because I auditioned so many people, and he was, if I'm not mistaken, the first to submit or first three people to submit. And it was a three-month process of finding the protagonist, and he was one of the first. So, I was like, 'This guy's pretty good. He fits everything.' But I wasn't going to commit to an actor after a week of searching. So, I stretched things out. But then, in those months that followed, I was always thinking that no one was as good as him. It was something about the way he was able to express what he was feeling without using words.
DEADLINE: Talk more about the lack of dialogue in the script because you do bring up a good point. You absolutely needed someone who could sell that.
BUENO: It's about perspective. I feel like having that lack of dialogue, where you would expect there to be a lot of explanation, I leaned away from dialogue because I wanted it to be really noticeable that something was missing. If some people don't like that, that's fine. I wanted it to be really noticeable because it makes people start thinking about, 'Well, if there was dialogue, what would he have said? What would the antagonist, the American officer, have said?' Through that communication of looks, I really enjoy talking to people about how they filled in the lines [with silence and their emotions]. That feeling of did the antagonist let him go. Did he believe that Officer Alvarez didn't find anyone else in the house?
There's ambiguity because finding these families [in hiding] never goes the same way. So, leaving an ambiguous ending makes it more universal. One of my inspirations is Denis Villeneuve, the film director of Arrival, Sicario, and Dune. He always says, 'Film has so much; it has image, it has sound, it has angles that kind of tell a feeling.' And so, sometimes, dialogue can be overused. And we have so much to fall back on in film because we have so much. And I kind of wanted to explore that to kind of work my muscles with that.
DEADLINE: Let's talk about some scenes. There's symbolism in Officer Alvarez's necklace. He's wearing it openly, and then he hides it after the other officer mentions it. Then, when he comes across the family hiding in the closet, the younger girl has a bracelet that's similar.
BUENO: So, the necklace he's wearing, it's something that is prominent in every Latin culture. It has a different name. In Brazil, we have a different name. In Peru, they have a different name. In Mexico, they have a different name, but it's the same. So, it's something that when you see someone wearing it or referencing it, you know. So, it's having him tuck it in, in the beginning, is him essentially putting his badge, professionalism, and duty in front of his culture. And it's him putting his duty in front of his humanity. As the film progresses, as he makes the choices he makes, he's proud of the choice he makes, and he brings the necklace back out and puts it in front of his badge. It's as if he's saying, now it's my culture and humanity in front of my duty. So, it was another way to verbalize that without needing to say anything.
DEADLINE: Then there's the scene where he actually finds the family hiding in the closet. There's no words, but there's a lot of stares and reveals. There's a woman holding a fresh newborn baby and blood on the ground. Then you see the desperation on their faces. Unpack that.
BUENO: Yeah. It builds out for us to think it's something quite terrible that maybe the guy's hiding, right? So, for sure, it goes from fear to what he might find to maybe a relief that no one's dead and everyone's alive. But then to, wow, I've never encountered something like this before. What am I going to do? What's going to happen to me? The bracelet that the girl is wearing then connects him with them. It's a lot. You're so right. So, what we did is we stitched a lot of different takes together. So, when you find something like that for context, the family in the closet hiding, the homeowner was housing them, and she has given birth, as you said. If you were to open that closet, you wouldn't have one reaction. So many things would go through your head. And so, I was like, 'Let's do many takes. Give me a lot of options, and then we will intercut with the family and when we come back to you. You'll go through the rollercoaster.' So, we made sure to have a lot of different emotions going through his head and a lot of different takes stitched together.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
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