someone found sense on this ? alguien encontro un sentido ?

I got it right away, even if the films is dreadfully slow in its pace. In the end, though, that didn't matter much either.

I understood that funny things were happening to the guy (I had to ask my wife, who is from such a town, how it can be that an adolescent could drive a car and she said there are normally not many rules, there aren't even policemen to control these kinds of things...) and just followed the general mood, trying to understand why he was feeling the way he did. Obviously, the crash was symbolic, and from there you just derive everything else in the movie: he crashes because he feels bad. He can't find the right part to repair his car (another symbol). He finds people that help him along the way. Then, there's his brother clipping all those magazines and photos (one more symbol) in this tent and latter hidden in the closet. The mother, that won't leave the bath tube. And, finally, the conclusion that the father is dead. That's the point where I grasped that nobody had a real direction in life and everybody just wanted some love and company and meaning. What about when the girl undresses and wants to make love and he falls into her arms and cries?

The last scene, that explains the name of the movie, is related to that paradise we all have within us, that longing for happiness that we can't give up and is mostly far away. Both kids look at a sticker that says "Lake Tahoe": "Do you remember Lake Tahoe?" "We weren't at Lake Tahoe. Aunt Martha brought us this sticker" "Oh, but it's a nice sticker, though!".

There is sadness and longing and lack of direction. The film portraits those moments when we just can't find the way. The exact moment when life just crumbles down in front of your eyes and you can't recognize the old world but won't find a way to the new one either.

The place is sleepy, but it still is the character's town, meaning that although everything seems strange, it is still a strangeness involving your own world, your head and feelings. And the camera purposely portraits everything from just one angle, without moving, approaching too much or evolving during the scene because the focus is on contemplation, not action. The movie is about inner moments; it's about what people feel, not so much about what they do.

Creo que tengo que mostrarme en desacuerdo contigo, la película me parece bastante conmovedora y bien llevada. Si bien es cierto que la técnica usada no es muy común y puede llevar a la película a ser un poco lenta, en general considero que es un trabajo bien logrado. La fotografía resalta los detalles necesarios para la comprensión de la película y la dirección te permite conocer más a los personajes, sabiendo en dónde se mueven y qué tipo de vida llevan.
Es posible que me haya parecido más llegadora pues recién perdí a un miembro de mi familia, sin embargo considero que si las *beep* hubieran sido otras, aún así habría disfrutado esta película

Now in english:
I have to disagree with you, this movie is quite moving and well done. I have to admit that the technique is not very common and it makes the film a little bit slow every once in a while; however I fin the final result of a very good quality. The cinematography highlights the important details and the director shows you what you need to know in order to learn more about the characters and understand them, you get hints of the way of living they have and the kind of places in which their lives occur. I might find this movie very touching because I have recently lost someone in my family, nonetheless I think that I'd have enjoyed this movie as well if the circumstances had been different.

oh the cleverness of me!

Yes, it made sense to me. Absolutely.
Kinda sad to read that for people who didn't get it, that fact alone (which is their own fault), makes ANY movie "pretentious".
That term have been used to describe gazillion of films from the most different genres and whose target are sometimes the opposite. Apparently any movie that they dislike or doesn't understand, is automatically labeled as a "pretentious" movie. That's why nowadays that term means absolutely nothing.

Besides ANY movie have the pretension of achieving something: To sell tickets, to entertain, to amaze audience, etc. In that sense, even the worst kind of crap like G.I. Joe, Transformers, 2012, and more garbage like that are "pretentious" films.

Yo la verdad creo que Lake Tahoe es un poema de película. Con una economía de las palabras y de los sonidos innecesarios que se agradece. Después de pasar el verano viendo tarugadas ruidosas y por demás estúpidas; Una pélícula como Lake Tahoe es literalmente un oasis en medio del desierto. Un remanso de paz para reflexionar sobre los sentimientos más básicos del ser humano. Sobre el conflicto que significa vivir, madurar, aprender a aceptar lo inevitable como la pérdida de un ser amado o la certeza de la muerte cercana (Don Heber)
La verdad que esta película me afectó a un nivel emocional como muy pocas películas que he visto lo han hecho. Podría nombrar 'Ikiru' de Kurosawa, 'Zerkalo' de Tarkovsky, 'Las Noches de Cabiria' de Fellini, 'Los olvidados' de Luis Buñuel, 'Un hombre sin pasado' de Kaurismäki, 'Luces de la ciudad' de Chaplin, 'París, Texas' de Wenders, 'Fanny y Alexander' de Bergman, 'Luz silenciosa' de Reygadas, Y algunas más. Pero no muchas.

Entiendo que el ritmo lento, cadencioso, casi hipnotizante de la película, su sentido del humor seco, su estructura narrativa, etc. No sean del gusto de gente acostumbrada a ver otra clase de cine. Pero para aquellos que sepan dónde mirar y puedan sentir empatía con lo que están viendo, pocas películas alcanzan el nivel de Lake Tahoe.
Sin duda alguna Fernando Eimbcke, si sigue por este camino, esta llamado a convertirse en uno de los directores más importantes de su generación.

Finalmente algo que es muy chocante es ver que los mexicanos malinchistas son los peores enemigos del cine mexicano. Prefieren alabar basura hollywoodense antes que dignarse a aceptar que una película mexicana puede ser excepcional. Qué lástima. Mejor en Alemania, Francia, España, Suecia, el resto de latinoamerica, etc. Aplauden el cine mexicano (el que merece ser aplaudido, claro), ¿pero aquí? No señor, aquí primero los malinchistas besan el suelo que pise Michael Bay o Roland Emmerich antes que siquiera considerar cineastas de 'medio pelo' a gente como Reygadas, Cuarón o Eimbcke.

I agree. This one was even more boring than "Duck Season".

Only got 10 minutes in... most boring start to a movie I've ever seen. Reading the comments here suggests things don't get any better. Giving in.

I like foreign cinema, I'm happy with subtitles and unknown actors, but I do need at least one interesting performance or incident.

I loved this film and I can think of at least two times in my life where I felt as aimless and despondent as Juan did in the film. Capturing the ensuing coldness and lethargy of a post-traumatic event is something I rarely get the chance to relate to in film. I admit the first act was slow; the static shots were gripping but after a while felt repetative. However being no foreigner to Art house and world cinema (uhm, no pun intended) I was glad I had the patience to stay interested, because the proceeding 2nd and 3rd acts is when it becomes a true character study and subtle human story. The characters begin to mean something to you and as your understanding of the progaonists emotions begin to unfold, you begin to look at his series of mundane and inexplicible occurences as something personal and at best cathartic.

Reminds me a lot of the Tawainese New Wave films, which I'm a decent fan of, however being of Mexican descent (I'm first gen Mexican-American, first language was Spanish) the culture and atmosphere hit A LOT closer to home and struck a chord with me on a personal level. I think Duck Season might still be a better film, if anything for the fact that it's a fantastic debut, but with this film I"m just glad that Art cinema in Mexico still has a pulse and hopefully with artists like Eimbcke, it can continue and hopefully expand in the years to come.

BTW, if you loved this film, check out El Violin, another masterpiece in Mexican Film.