“Ashes” (“Ceniza en la Boca”) is a drama directed by Diego Luna and based on Brenda Navarro’s novel. The film follows Lucila, a young Mexican woman, who leaves Mexico with her younger brother to reunite with their mother in Spain after she left the family years earlier to seek a better life. Several sources describe the story as centered on displacement and the human costs of immigration, with much of the action set in Mexico and later in Madrid. Reviews note that Lucila and her brother travel to join their mother, who has been absent for about eight years, and that the family reunion is shaped by difficult circumstances and emotional strain.
While all coverage aligns on the film’s basic setup—migration from Mexico to Spain, a family separated by abandonment, and a search for a future—critics diverge in their assessment of the execution. Some reviewers call the film intimate and complex, while others characterize it as disjointed, meandering, or only partially effective. Variety also includes Luna’s comments, describing his concern about prejudices faced by immigrants and framing the film as rooted in personal experience and themes of ignorance and selfishness.
