I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 10, 2022

I Carry You with Me (Te Llevo Conmigo) began as a documentary, which would have been a natural fit for non-fiction filmmaker Heidi Ewing. The Oscar-nominated co-director (with Rachel Grady) of Jesus Camp (2006) met restaurateurs Iván García and Gerardo Zabaleta in a wine bar in either 2004 or 2006 (accounts vary). A half-dozen years later, Iván and Gerardo wanted to see the mountains in Utah so Ewing invited them to accompany her to Park City at the Sundance Film Festival where her Detropia (2012) was screened. As she recounted to various interviewers, Ewing asked Iván and Gerardo about their family members. The two business partners were ashamed to admit they hadn't seen any family for many years because they're undocumented immigrants who wouldn't be able to return to the US if they traveled back to Mexico. Iván still hasn't seen his son in twenty years because his visa has been denied each time. Ewing was emotionally rocked to hear Iván and Gerardo's full-life stories. She felt an obligation as a storyteller to tell their harrowing tales on celluloid. She started filming interviews with them only to realize that she only had the third act to a full movie. That convinced her that she needed to capture Iván and Gerardo's formative years, too, so she decided to make her narrative feature debut.

I Carry You with Me has a non-linear structure that flashes back and flashes forward from circa the late '80s to the present. The film shows the early years in Puebla City, Mexico where Iván and Gerardo discover their queer identity. Young Iván (Yael Tadeo) and young Sandra (Alexia Morales), his best friend, play "costume" with the former putting on a quinceañera dress. Iván's father verbally admonishes him for his feminine attire. Paternal relations are considerably worse for young Gerardo (Nery Arredondo). He knows, more so than Iván does at the same age, that he desires the same sex. That doesn't sit well at all with Gerardo’s father (Pascacio López), who takes his son on a truck drive to a field where he whacks him with a belt. He warns him that if he's found gay, he'll be killed and his body left in the mountains. But any fear of physical punishment gradually dissipates for young adult Gerardo (Christian Vázquez) because his family owns land in Chiapas and probably know some of Mexico's elite. This would explain why Gerardo is able to attend a prestigious graduate school where he works as a teaching assistant. On the other hand, young adult Iván (Armando Espitia) comes from a working-class family that isn't as well off. Iván works as a dishwasher at a restaurant where he'd much rather be a chef. Unfortunately, his culinary degree won't earn him a promotion with his boss. Iván has a 5-year-old son that he shares with his estranged wife, Paola (Michelle González). Neither Iván's mother, Paola, nor her parents realize Iván is gay. If he ever comes out, then that would mean not being able to see his son. Sandra (now portrayed by Michelle Rodríguez) takes Iván to a gay bar where Gerardo aims a red laser pointer at him in a flirting manner. Gerardo and Iván instantly click. They share many moments of affection but they're always in private spaces.

Ewing's movie takes place primarily in Puebla (1994) and flashes forward to Brooklyn (ca. 2008 to the present) where Iván and Gerardo play themselves. I Carry You with Me is at its most effective during the Mexican scenes when Iván and Gerardo are trying to determine if they want to cross the border or not. The frequent cutting back and forth quickly becomes confusing, although I could recognize Iván and Gerardo as their younger selves. It's wonderful to see the real Iván and Gerardo but once the narrative fully shifts to New York, it feels more like an epilogue. I was expecting a lot more out of this section. I also was expecting Mexicans to be more tolerant of homosexuals like Americans increasingly became during the "Gay Nineties." But Ewing's picture sheds light on a bigoted society, a dark chapter that most Mexicans would like to forget.

I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony has given I Carry You with Me its worldwide premiere on Blu-ray on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25 (disc size: 24.63 GB). The movie was shot using Arri cameras and appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The Austin Chronicle's Jenny Nulf commented in her review that cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez likes to employ "soft pastels and neons." The amusement park scene (see Screenshot #13) produces an almost strobe effect as neon colors percolate in the vicinity of the merry-go-round and rides. You can see the red and green-infused lighting during a drag performance by Gerardo's best friend, Cucusa (Luis Alberti), as well as in other scenes (check out Screenshot #s 9-12). I Carry You with Me featured a lot of night shoots and you'll notice Ramírez's predilection for practically painting figures in silhouette (see frame grab #s 1, 3, 14-15). While I would have liked a higher bitrate, I didn't spot any compression-related artifacts. Sony has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 22082 kbps.

Sony has provided twelve chapters for the 111-minute movie.

I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The lone sound track on this disc is a Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3572 kbps, 24-bit). Before the picture fades in for the opening shot, I could immediately hear a dense ambience of insects and critters, which fill the rear channels. A majority of I Carry You with Me is spoken in Spanish with the only English dialogue coming in the New York scenes. I could hear the wings of a helicopter really well on the satellite speakers. Composer Jay Wadley's music is almost camouflaged with the sound design. Wadley uses indigenous instruments and percussion. (The Budapest Scoring Orchestra performs in addition to the instrumentalists.) The music has an "airy" sound that reminds me of a Thomas Newman score. Highlights on the digital album include the tender cues, "The Letter / New York" and "Reunited."

Optional English SDH as well as subtitles in English, French, and Spanish are available.

I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (2:18, 1080p) - an official trailer for I Carry You with Me displayed in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. This was produced after the movie premiered at Sundance and contains quotes by reviewers. It carries a mean video bitrate of 18037 kbps and comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (all in Spanish, subtitled in English).

• Previews (7:47 combined, all 1080p) - Sony presents original theatrical trailers for The Truffle Hunters (2:07), French Exit (2:15), and The Broken Hearts Gallery (1:05). Sandwiched in between are a DVD trailer for Long Weekend (1:05) and a teaser trailer for The Kid Detective (1:04).

I Carry You with Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I feel that Heidi Ewing could have made a more compelling portrait of Iván García and Gerardo Zabaleta had see chose to film I Carry You with Me as a straight-up documentary. She tries to incorporate three different time periods in her narrative thread and the movie subsequently feels disorganized. Still, it's pretty rare to get a picture about LGBT Mexicans and her fictional debut fills a nice void. Sony delivers a top-notch transfer and an unhindered 5.1 uncompressed mix. Unfortunately, there are no extras and I would have loved a commentary track with Ewing. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION.