Mountains takes place in Miami’s Little Haiti, where the neighbors still gather to celebrate their culture, wear colorful native clothes, and speak Haitian Creole. But no matter how much they cherish their homeland’s traditions, many of these immigrants have embraced the American Dream.
Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) is a demolition worker; every day he helps tear down some of the houses in the area to make room for new and bigger homes for white intruders. Gentification is real here, and there is nothing he can do about. Still, his own dream is to have a bigger house for himself and his wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier). When he finds a place with a yard for a garden and a sewing room for Esperance, he decides to try to buy it. But he soon realizes that the real estate broker has no interest in them as prospective buyers.
Meanwhile, their son, Junior (Chris Renois) has his own American Dream. He wants to be a stand-up comedian, a career path he knows his parents will never understand. His desires take him further from the community his parents love and want to keep.
This is a slice-of-life film about immigrants, gentrification, family dynamics, and the seeming inevitability of change. Even if we don’t come from a culture other than “standard American” (if there is such a thing), we can understand how Xavier and his family feel. Monica Sorelle’s debut feature touches the heart with its sympathetic portrait of a changing family mirrored by a changing neighborhood.