Each new erased personal detail or phrase from the national slogan handbook (Barbara Crampton makes “You’re in America now, the Land of Plenty” sound more sinister than it’s ever been) is one more layer that Marisol has to both recognize and contend with. The way that Guerrero leans into that artifice, showing that this new soup of patriotism and sameness is its own waking nightmare, is another textbook bit of unsettling escalation. It’s a ‘50s backlot view of Americana that she instantly recognizes as off-kilter.

After traveling under cover of darkness (DP Byron Werner lights some of those sections as if Marisol and her companions are moving through an endless void with only lantern light to guide them), Marisol wakes up in a pastel-drenched neighborhood that’s suburbia, heartland, and old-money colonial all rolled into one. It’s a harrowing opening that Guerrero expertly flips on its head once Marisol arrives at her destination. “Culture Shock” shows why Marisol is choosing to leave her home while also showing the potential perils of a journey to the border, with plenty of people along the way preying on bodies and savings and hope itself. The opening third is one that Guerrero tells in an unflinching way, following Marisol (Martha Higareda) as she tries to make her way to the Mexican-American border. ‘The Lady Bird Diaries’ Review: The Late First Lady Gives One of the Great Star Turns of Any Recent Doc

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