29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (07.11-23.11.2025)
A rare cinematic achievement: solitude, politics, and humanity in Trump’s divided America.
Eduardo, a Mexican cook in a Coney Island diner who crossed the desert two decades ago, becomes the unsuspecting centre of a story unfolding during the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign. Around him swirl fleeting encounters, patriotic hymns, prayers, accidental violence, tenderness, and landscapes of desperate beauty – an America at once raw and poetic.
The film avoids conventional narrative, weaving fragments of daily life into an unconventional and striking portrait of a nation divided yet profoundly human. As history closes in, Eduardo’s quiet presence collides with Robert, a steadfast Trump supporter, over something as simple as a hamburger. Told with what the filmmaker Gianluca Vassallo calls “punk clarity” and “riot delicacy,” this film stands out as a rare cinematic achievement – one seldom seen in films that attempt to capture America.
Marianna Kaat
The Lunch: A Letter to America
The Lunch: A Letter to America
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Genre
Documentary
Director
Gianluca Vassallo
Run time
1h 34min
Cast
Eduardo Hernandez, Robert Arnold Linsay
Genre
Documentary
Director
Gianluca Vassallo
Run time
1h 34min
Cast
Eduardo Hernandez, Robert Arnold Linsay
29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (07.11-23.11.2025)
A rare cinematic achievement: solitude, politics, and humanity in Trump’s divided America.
Eduardo, a Mexican cook in a Coney Island diner who crossed the desert two decades ago, becomes the unsuspecting centre of a story unfolding during the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign. Around him swirl fleeting encounters, patriotic hymns, prayers, accidental violence, tenderness, and landscapes of desperate beauty – an America at once raw and poetic.
The film avoids conventional narrative, weaving fragments of daily life into an unconventional and striking portrait of a nation divided yet profoundly human. As history closes in, Eduardo’s quiet presence collides with Robert, a steadfast Trump supporter, over something as simple as a hamburger. Told with what the filmmaker Gianluca Vassallo calls “punk clarity” and “riot delicacy,” this film stands out as a rare cinematic achievement – one seldom seen in films that attempt to capture America.
Marianna Kaat
A rare cinematic achievement: solitude, politics, and humanity in Trump’s divided America.
Eduardo, a Mexican cook in a Coney Island diner who crossed the desert two decades ago, becomes the unsuspecting centre of a story unfolding during the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign. Around him swirl fleeting encounters, patriotic hymns, prayers, accidental violence, tenderness, and landscapes of desperate beauty – an America at once raw and poetic.
The film avoids conventional narrative, weaving fragments of daily life into an unconventional and striking portrait of a nation divided yet profoundly human. As history closes in, Eduardo’s quiet presence collides with Robert, a steadfast Trump supporter, over something as simple as a hamburger. Told with what the filmmaker Gianluca Vassallo calls “punk clarity” and “riot delicacy,” this film stands out as a rare cinematic achievement – one seldom seen in films that attempt to capture America.
Marianna Kaat
Info
Rating
-
Production year
2025
Global distributor
--
Local distributor
Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival MTÜ
In cinema
11/15/2025