Home / Arts and Entertainment / Dysfunctional Families: A Christmas Eve Nightmare
Dysfunctional Families: A Christmas Eve Nightmare
2 Mar
Summary
- A family gathering devolves into a vicious rivalry between two brothers.
- Hidden class critique emerges through the maids filming arguments.
- The film uses early digital video aesthetics to explore family dysfunction.
Set against the backdrop of a chaotic Christmas Eve in 1990s Mexico City, "Macdo" offers a raw look at family dysfunction, maximizing the imperfections of early digital camcorder footage. The story centers on brothers Alejandro and Octavio, who, alongside their wives, engage in a fierce rivalry, exposing the cracks in their middle-class aspirations.
This facade of contentment crumbles as escalating, subtly insulting arguments are revealed to be filmed by maids, introducing a layer of class critique. The film's visual style, with its quick zooms and close-ups, evokes telenovelas, a format it both parodies and reconfigures.
Moving beyond the dining room, the narrative delves into marital discord and casual misogyny. While the first half crackles with arguments, the latter part replays the characters' unpleasantness. Stylistic choices like split screens, intended to distance the viewer, ultimately feel laboured.
