The Pérez-Osos, a story with a family recipe

After losing their home due to a climatic phenomenon, a family of sloths moves to the big city in search of a new life. There they will try to start a new food business and keep their culinary traditions alive, thanks to a family recipe book that they keep as a treasure. However, the whirlwind and immediacy of the city brings with it characters who put their new project in danger and want to take over the recipe book that gives identity to the members of this family.

This is the premise of the Australian animated film The Perez Bears , directed by Tania Vincent, which hits theaters in Mexico this week with the voices of Lolita Cortés, as the feline villain Dotti, Faisy as the young sloth Mani, and Mariazel, as the family's mom, Gabriella.

In an interview with Excélsior , Mariazel spoke about the clash between tradition and modernity.

I think it's beautiful that it's addressed. That's why it's about lazy people, who go at a certain pace, at a certain speed, and the villain, the counterpart, Dotti, is a cheetah, who goes fast, who talks about capitalism, about making money, about solving problems. This family has to get into this rhythm to adapt, to fit in, but always trying to recover that essence, that base," explained the actress who plays Gabriella, the mother of this family.

Mariazel remembered her own mother in the making of the daily meal, which was more than just feeding, it was also a time of family reunion.

I remember my mother, who made breakfast, two or three other things and then got ready to make lunch; three or four hours to be there. Food, as this film shows, goes beyond nourishing; food brings the family together, it is an art. Cooking is an act of love, of generosity.

That is why one of the most important points in this film is the recipe book, keeping this tradition alive and that is why Gaby wants to take the time to cook and it is hard for her, because she puts her love into it. She wants to put everything she is into a dish," she said.

Lolita Cortés, who is Dotti the cheetah, shared that the recipe book at home was in the memory of her mother, Dolores Jiménez. So when it became known, she took all that culinary knowledge with her.

My mother left and took everything she had in her head, damn it! I realized, some time later, that I was left with nothing in my hands. The one who cooks is my sister Lau (Laura Cortés), I, honestly, never do it. My mother forbade me, but Lau was always there.

Lau kept all of this that my mother made. There is no recipe book as such, but the pastel de choclo is what identifies us as a family, it is wonderful! My mother, every time we said pastel de choclo, took three hours because that cake is crazy.

"Now, with this immediacy of doing things, you just pick up the phone and then you order your food, you don't even cook at home anymore, people don't want to cook anymore. We have lost a lot of that and that hurts a lot," said Cortés, who revealed that she likes frozen food.

"I never had that love for cooking and after my mother left, I realized that I had taken a lot of things for granted, like her being here. That part of 'good night, I love you, take care of yourself', oh! I lost it. Now I'm trying to reclaim it with my children and my grandchildren," she added.

Faisy, who is Mani, spoke of his identification with the story.

I have always defended the idea of ​​dysfunctional families, because I grew up in one. I love symbols. I mean, for me the recipe book can be a football match or whatever, because it is that space that shows us a complicity in the family, which can be the kitchen, but it can be another tradition.

The family issue is important, because the character of Laura, the 12-year-old lazy girl, also forms a family with her friends, who are the ones who help her defend her family and get them out of trouble.

So for me, all these symbols of unity, of tradition, of the struggle that each one has, are important, even Mani himself, who suddenly is just there supporting, but who ends up making his mural, which he didn't dare to do, because he didn't know if his mother would like it or if it would turn out well," Faisy said.

The host of Me caigo de risa also added that it is precisely when everything that this family had built, their house and their restaurant for years, is destroyed, when this makes them go to another place, and the symbol between mother and daughter appears, “what was before and what is modern.”

You can see that everything can live in the same universe, but through communication. There are so many messages and symbols in the film that make me connect on a professional and personal level with my children, my friends and my family. It also talks about looking out for my friends, about telling someone 'thank you', 'I love you', 'sorry' and not just in the family. I think all those things are going to make everything easier and more enjoyable," he concluded.

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