In an interview, Miguel Arteta once characterized his film The Good Girl (2002) as a prison escape story. The Retail Rodeo, the fictional big-box store that serves as the setting for the film, is the metaphorical prison, and its employees are the inmates. Some of them turn to religion to survive, some revolt, and one duo looks to break out. “It’s a great metaphor,” Arteta said, “because everyone feels trapped.” This is how many of Arteta’s films function: he finds an unexpected vehicle through which he can express a universal human experience. He gives agency and humanity to those whose work lives are seen, by many, to be less than heroic.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1965, Miguel Arteta moved to Costa Rica at a young age. After getting kicked out of school there, his parents sent him to the US, where he attended a boarding school, and later matriculated to Harvard. He left Harvard for Wesleyan University, where he studied film under Professor Jeanine Basinger, and also met future collaborator Mike White. Arteta’s breakthrough came with Star Maps (1997), which tells the story of a Latino teen trying to make it in Hollywood by selling maps of famous people’s homes. He found further success with classic of indie cinema Chuck & Buck (2000) and Cedar Rapids (2011). He directed Salma Hayek in one of her most poignant roles in the acclaimed Beatriz at Dinner (2017). Hayek plays the maid to a wealthy couple, who in an act of condescension, invite her to dinner with their wealthy friends. What ensues is both farcical and deeply spiritual, and, like much of Arteta’s work, begins by examining American class issues but eventually transcends them.