Hombre al Agua

After celebrating his longtime collaborator Diego Luna’s new directorial feat, Ashes in Cannes this year, Gael García Bernal follows suit, premiering his own latest feature as a director at the Venice Film Festival with Luna in attendance (coincidentally, the two productions share an actress in Anna Díaz).

In Hombre al Agua, Bernal stars as Camilo, a Havana lifeguard who doesn’t sleep on the job like many of his colleagues. When he saves a Mexican vacationer (Amores Perros‘ Jorge Salinas) from drowning, the prosperous businessman wants to reciprocate and rescue Camilo in turn. He invites the Cuban to Yucatán, offers him a job at his seal factory and practically arranges the ensuing marriage with his daughter Juana (Esmeralda Pimentel).

An important lesson media literacy teaches is that the characters of a story don’t know what genre they are in. We are reminded of this when Camilo – who felt rather comfortable with the turns his life had taken, even if he himself had little agency over them – is told by a nocturnal intruder that “this is a thriller, not a melodrama”. Hombre al Agua, however, resists clear classification with either. It is equal parts tragedy, farce, family drama and suspense. One of its strengths and challenges alike is that the audience has little sense of where the film is taking them.

One day, Juana suddenly sets her mind on turning her life into a movie to – in her own words – dispel the prejudices against wealthy people. The actor who is cast to play Camilo in this version is embodied by Primetime Emmy nominee Ricky Martin. The Latin pop star’s involvement in the picture was kept secret until the trailer was released two weeks ago, but he is a marvellous addition to the ensemble.

The fact that the piece is shot in a 4:3 ratio (the old format of television sets) not only complements Camilo’s viewing habits, which largely consist of Brazilian telenovelas, which he watches whenever he is put in the proverbial doghouse. The majority of the feature takes place on the family’s lavish property, which is rich in recurring square motifs the cinematography feeds off of: quads, beams, doorways, windows overlooking other windows. When the house turns into a film set, a giant picture frame is carried into view, enclosing Camilo within its borders. All of these give the viewer the distinct feel of looking out from the inside, like in its opening shot that slowly advances towards a window, opening onto an ocean panorama. It is the kind of view one would pay extra for in a hotel room, but as the camera moves in, one realises how far removed this is from the beach and its lively crowds.

Bernal’s film is steeped in local flavour, and some cultural details are bound to get lost in translation. International audiences may be less familiar with his references to Mexican associations with Cubans and have a harder time picking up on what constitutes stereotype and what is fact. Much of the film’s humour surrounding national identity will resonate most with native Spanish speakers. The Mexican actor adopts a Cuban accent only for his character to be told to sound more Colombian or Argentinian, as part of sexual role play.

Hombre al Agua is a slippery, hard-to-define mosaic of political subjugation and class distinction. Instead of presenting these themes through the bleak lens they are usually captured in, Bernal brings eccentricity and odd humour to the things he hauls to the surface. In the end, one is left with the nagging feeling of still trying to work out exactly what has just been watched.

Selina Sondermann

Read more reviews from our Venice Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the Venice Film Festival website here.