Review: A Whale
by Júlia Olmo
- Pablo Hernando asserts himself as one of the most unique voices of new Spanish cinema with a sci-fi neo-noir starring a captivating Ingrid García-Jonsson
When Ingrid (played by a captivating Ingrid García-Jonsson) pulls the trigger, her victims don't know who shot them Her ability to infiltrate and disappear without a trace makes her a ruthless contract killer. But her power comes from a strange connection to another world, a world inhabited by monstrous sea creatures that, while giving her special abilities, is slowly stripping her of her humanity. This is the mysterious plot of A Whale, the new film from Pablo Hernando (one of the most interesting voices of the so-called “other” Spanish cinema, director of such unique films as Berserker [+see also:
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interview: Pablo Hernando
film profile] and Esa sensación [+see also:
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film profile], written and directed together with Juan Cavestany and Julián Génisson), whose cast also includes Ramón Barea, Kepa Errasti and Asier Tartás, and which is being screened at Sitges Film Festival.
A Whale is one of those films that is best to go to see without knowing anything about it. A cross between film noir, science fiction and cosmic horror, the film speaks of a world that we do not see and cannot fully explain; of the invisible and inaudible, of the dark places in all of us, of the impossibility of unravelling someone completely, of the struggle between human and animal, of the monstrous, of the presence of the ghostly and the extraordinary in reality. It speaks to the passing of time and loneliness, to how we come to become who we are, to the weight of the past on the present and on tomorrow, and to a world that disappears.
Pablo Hernando explores all this with imagination, suggestion and mystery. More through what is not said than what is said, he lets the images speak and suggest. This is one of the film's greatest assets. The director examines the noir genre (mixing references to Jean-Pierre Melville's French polar in Le Samouraï with Herman Melville's imaginary in Moby Dick) through a bold, original crossover with an at times costumbrista horror (which easily reminds us of other films from unconventional Spanish cinema). The result is a film whose dark form speaks of the mystery that runs through it in its depths. It knows how to play with the freedom allowed by the genre, with the possibilities of the symbolic (the metaphors offered by the marine world are highly present), the fantasy, the sound, the textures and the out-of-field. Hernando also succeeds with an austere, sombre, enigmatic and at the same time beautiful mise-en-scène, achieving visually powerful images that capture that sea whose depths we never fully see.
A Whale is a brave neo-noir, a step beyond Pablo Hernando, a film as cryptic as it is beautiful, and at times hypnotic. Perhaps one of his greatest achievements lies in his ability to play with beauty, terror, the freedom of mystery and the viewer's imagination, and to let each of us interpret and give our own meaning to what we see on screen. A film that certainly establishes Hernando as one of the most unique filmmakers in Spanish film around today.
A Whale is a co-production between Spain and Italy of the companies Señor & Señora, Orisa Produzioni and Sayaka Producciones. International sales are managed by Latido Films.
(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)
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