George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, P Diddy and other celebrities who have made the move to tequila would be wise to check out what their high-profile brands have done to put a drain on family-owned distilleries in the Jalisco Highlands. The once prosperous Two Seasons factory has reached a painful crossroad. Employees of the distillery that haven’t been let go are working at half-pay. Hardship is felt all the way at the top: to save money on a loaner car, Maria Garcia (Rafaela Fuentes), a tenacious top shelf brewer, hoofs it between work and home. She wears her hair close-cropped — like Beaver Cleaver on his way to visit Aunt Martha — and braves each day’s losses with soul-crushing calm. She’s wild about (but doesn’t show it) her new-hire, a young businesswoman whose acumen makes her even sexier to the otherwise no-nonsense Rafaela. Their first contact, an unexpectedly lithe acapella dance framed in a kitchen doorway, comes late in the film. In addition to a poignant character study, first-time director (Juan Pablo González) takes us on a comprehensive documentary tour of the process, from shearing the leaves from the piña to brewing and sampling the finished product. (2022) — Scott Marks
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