A Birthday Party to Die for in “Tótem”

Avilés’s previous movie, “The Chambermaid” (2019), was set in a hotel in Mexico City, and shot with astringent care. The most genial of its stars, Teresita Sánchez, returns here in the role of Cruz, Tona’s nurse, who is the soul of sensible patience; notice how calmly she mentions, as the party winds down, that she hasn’t been paid in two weeks. “Tótem” is more relaxed than “The Chambermaid,” often crowded but rarely confounding, and Avilés homes in on solitary figures amid the throng. The camera watches, weaves, and waits—not so much sticking its nose in, like a meddlesome guest, as making sure that people are attended to, if only with a glance. Should their actions be of no great consequence, better still; look at Roberto, straining to pull on a sock, or Sol taking a furtive slug of wine and pulling a face. At one point, the adults do that stupid thing of parcelling their speech into bits (“che-mo-the-ra-py”), in the hope that the kids won’t understand what’s going on. Yeah, right. Sol listens in, and instantly breaks the code. Parents in the audience will recognize the dilemma: when you lock children out from what you fear they cannot bear to learn, are you protecting them or storing up harm in their hearts? And don’t they always turn the key and find out anyway?