Absence (Brazil/Chile/France)  

This low-key urban study concentrates on a 15-year-old São Paulo boy (excellent Matheus Fagundes) deserted by his father and forced to parent himself, a little brother, and an alcoholic mother. Writer-director Chico Teixeira covered similar material with broader, bolder strokes in Alice’s House, and even if the slim story here is more focused (as on the boy’s still-nascent sexuality), much of it feels too generic to be truly engaging.