“Hummingbirds” - Film Review
Laredo, Texas, exists in a limbo. It’s a bordertown whose primary economy is the international trade between the United States and Mexico. Walmarts in town accept both pesos and US dollars. The town is the oldest crossing between the two countries, and many families are split by this arbitrary border. Silvia and Beba are also in a type of limbo. They’re teenagers who are anxiously waiting for their lives to begin and take them away from this town. Hummingbirds follows the two best friends over the course of the summer before everything changes. It’s a hyper-personal, verite documentary that brings audiences fully into the listless, hopeful life of a teenager on a precipice.
“We’re doing nothing together.” It’s a phrase that distinctly applies to the teenage years and that Hummingbirds so effortlessly captures. Silvia and Beba are of a generation who have grown up documenting everything. They look extraordinarily at ease in front of the camera, acting as though it’s not even there. A documentary style where the subjects rarely address the camera that’s capturing their every move allows for a more intimate study of the lives of these best friends. It’s easy to forget that this isn’t some scripted, coming-of-age indie movie from A24 because of how naturally Silvia, Beba, and their fellow co-directors (Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodríguez-Falcó) have staged this documentary.
Courtesy of Extra Terrestrial Films
Hummingbirds is charmingly aimless in the way that teenagers have the ability to be. The friends traipse through a discount store picking up Funyuns, silly plastic glasses, and a phone charger. They run through city streets pushing their friends in grocery store carts and dance the night away in a gay club. The days stretch on, the nights are even longer, but the future is coming and they’re well aware of that. Beba is waiting for her work visa to be approved and Silvia is forced to take care of her younger siblings. As aimless as they are, everything they do is purposeful. They attend anti-ICE rallies, organize reproductive justice teach-ins, and talk about how they feel like they were forced to grow up too fast.
For all of the documentary’s heaviness, Hummingbirds also celebrates the way friendship and creative endeavors provide a much-needed escape. Silvia and Beba each have their artistic endeavors, poetry and music, and are each other’s sounding boards. They collaborate and find joy in the creation of art. As the two best friends dance through the dusty, twilight hours, there’s an inescapable feeling of melancholy, because the viewer knows that life doesn’t get to be like this forever. You don’t get to run around with your best friend at all hours of the day forever, so you have to capture it as best you can.
Courtesy of Extra Terrestrial Films
“I’m forgetting so much.” It’s a fear we all have as we grow older. A fear of losing track of the important things, the memories that fundamentally shape us as people. Hummingbirds is a means of preserving the friendship of these two teens and their life in Laredo. Despite their need to leave, they both express a desire to return to make a difference in the community that has raised them. Hummingbirds is vibrant and hopeful for the future, in spite of the past.
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