Wandering Girl (2018)

Don't watch the trailer. I mean it. Just don't. Whatever it tells you about this film, it either over-promises or gives too much away, and neither does it any favours. Go in as fresh as you can, because the film itself at least deserves that much.

I was genuinely excited when I sat down with this one for my A-Z World Movie Tour (Colombia, if you're keeping track). The setup had everything I wanted: a teenage girl, Angela, dealing with the grief of losing her father, then packed off to travel across Colombia with sisters she barely knows, heading to live with an auntie she's never really had a relationship with either. That's a rich, emotionally loaded premise. Family drama, coming-of-age story, grief, displacement, the strange intimacy forced on people by circumstance. On paper, I thought I was going to love it.

And look, in fairness, there's a lot to admire here. The cinematography is genuinely gorgeous. Colombia looks stunning, and whoever was behind the camera clearly has a real eye for landscape and light. The soundtrack that sits underneath it all is well-chosen too, doing a lot of quiet, careful work. From a purely visual and atmospheric standpoint, this is a beautifully made film. No question about it.

But then there's the screenplay, and that's where things start to come apart for me.

There are long stretches of this film where nothing is said. Nobody speaks. Angela moves through scenes, through landscapes, through interactions with her sisters and her auntie, and you're basically left to fill in all the blanks yourself. Now, I understand what that approach is going for. Angela is a grieving teenager who won't, or can't, open up. She keeps everything locked inside. That's real. That's true to life. I get it.

But here's the thing I always come back to with films like this: movies are either an escape from reality or a reflection of it, and this one sits so far over on the reflection side that it stops being engaging and starts being a bit of a chore. Watching a character who refuses to express herself for long, silent stretches isn't automatically profound. Sometimes it's just frustrating. You end up doing all the emotional heavy lifting as a viewer, and after a while you start to wonder why the film isn't meeting you halfway.

It reminded me a little of how I felt watching Tiger Stripes, another film about a young girl navigating a world that doesn't quite make sense to her anymore, though that one commits to its strangeness in a way that kept me hooked. This one just kept me at arm's length.

The performances are fine. Angela as a character, when you can get a read on her, is sympathetic enough. The relationships between the sisters feel believable in their awkwardness. And the journey across Colombia gives the film a loose, drifting structure that suits its mood, even if it doesn't always suit the audience's patience.

I think what stings a bit is how close it comes to being something I'd genuinely recommend. The bones are good. The look of it is great. But a film needs more than beautiful images and silence. It needs to give you some way in, some emotional handhold, and this one keeps pulling that handhold just out of reach. Art-house films can absolutely get away with restraint, but there's restrained and then there's remote, and Wandering Girl tips too far into remote territory for me.

Three stars. Worth a watch if you're patient and you respond to mood-driven, visually led storytelling. But if you need a film to meet you halfway emotionally, this one might leave you a little cold.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2018  | Watched: 2025-06-07

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Rent: Amazon Video
Buy: Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Physical: Amazon US

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