Synopsis
Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY. When the man she’s secretly paying for a green card marriage backs out, she becomes involved with a slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she’s a trans woman.
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Cast
- Isabel SandovalOlivia
- Lynn CohenOlga
- Eamon FarrenAlex
- Ivory AquinoTrixie
- Lev GornMurray
- P.J. BoudousquéAndrei
- Andrea LeighDaria
- Leif SteinertMatthew
- Jake SoisterDaniel
- Roman BlatViktor
Recommendations
- 83
IndieWire
Lingua Franca illustrates the woefully untapped potential of marginalized storytellers. - 80
Time
Lingua Franca — which made a splash at the Venice Film Festival last year, the first film by a trans woman to be featured at the festival — is a gorgeous and delicate picture, an understated work that opens a window on an intimate world. - 79
Paste Magazine
Lingua Franca has a lived-in sensibility facilitated by Sandoval’s empathy and understanding of what Olivia’s going through. It’s the film’s best quality: a firsthand knowledge driving an earnest request to be seen and respected, as an American and as a woman. Olivia isn’t asking for much. There’s no reason to deny her. - 75
RogerEbert.com
Lingua Franca isn’t a screed. Far from it. Sandoval pulls us in gently with long, single takes which are often static, immersing us in the quiet rhythms of the lived-in environment she’s created within the Russian-Jewish neighborhood of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. - 70
Rolling Stone
The expression here is one of shared humanity regardless of background, gender identity, race or creed. The common language being used here is cinema. - 63
Movie Nation
Sandoval has made a film with cultural currency and the rich texture of a New York setting for a story as immediate as today’s headlines, and just as sad. - 60
Screen Daily
The shared experience between the filmmaker and the subject of the film allows for a character study of depth and intimacy. However, the story itself – a slightly soapy ‘romance against the odds’ narrative – presents few surprises. - 60
Variety
Lingua Franca is notable not just for the deftness of its overall assembly and performances, but for its approaching hot-button issues of the moment (the status/rights of both transpersons and undocumented workers) in ways that are insightful without being heavy-handed.
