Gael García Bernal's second feature as director, "Hombre Al Agua," is a Mexican dramedy that struggles to balance its comic and dramatic ambitions, according to a review from its Venice Film Festival premiere in the Spotlight sidebar. Bernal, who also stars and co-wrote the script with Mariano Pensotti, plays a Cuban lifeguard turned wealthy businessman whose life spirals after his marriage and career unravel; the review finds the film chaotic, overstuffed and short on emotional coherence despite a strong-looking cast. Its reception matters as a test of Bernal's directing career following his more restrained 2019 debut "Chicuarotes," with the reviewer suggesting the film will fare better with Latin American audiences than internationally.

The plot follows Camilo (Bernal), who marries into wealth after saving his boss's life, only to face his wife's growing closeness to another woman, his father-in-law's secret mistress, and a collapsing zip-tie factory business, all handled with an erratic, Coen-brothers-esque tone that the review says lacks narrative discipline. The cast includes Esmeralda Pimentel, Jorge Salinas, Débora Nascimento and Natalia Oreiro, with a cameo from Ricky Martin, and the film touches on themes of fatherhood, masculinity and Mexican class divides without developing them deeply. The reviewer concludes that tighter scripting would have better served Bernal's intended message, which is instead diluted by excessive subplots.