Valencian helmer Javier Polo, who rose to fame with the documentary The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], snagged the Cinema Jove Feroz Award in 2023 and picked up a Goya nomination for his short film Una terapia de mierda. Now, after taking part in the Málaga Film Festival (out of competition), he is on home soil – more specifically, in the Premiere section of the 40th Cinema Jove – to present his first fiction feature, titled Pet Peeves and made up of four standalone stories stitched together by another, in which Pablo Molinero plays the role of a peculiar watchmaker.

After this introduction, the movie opens with the story of a couple who stay together thanks to their love for their pet… until it disappears. The second one unfolds in a restaurant, where a group of friends get together for dinner, and one of them takes the opportunity to drop a bombshell. The third story revolves around a female yoga teacher who has managed to create something akin to a perfect bubble of harmony in her home, but everything changes when a new neighbour arrives. And the fourth one is about a guy who is looking to spend his holidays in peace, tranquillity and solitude on his regular camping site, but he hadn’t counted on the fact that his mates from prior summers intend to do some hardcore socialising with him.

Thanks to the dedicated involvement of a spectacular ensemble cast, including famous Spanish comedians of the calibre of Arturo Valls, Vito Sanz, Javier Coronas and Marta Belenguer, among others (Berta Vázquez, Andrea Duro and Enrique Arce, to name a few), Polo has stitched together a series of storylines that primarily make use of comedy to make fun of our most absurd misfortunes, which are part of our equally absurd lives.

Instant relatability is thus the main appeal of these tales that lay bare the human soul with huge dollops of irony and a few shavings of surrealism. Every viewer, as they come out of the dark room, will be able to name their favourite, as it’s easy to see ourselves reflected in the hypochondria, the hypersensitivity and the obsessions of some of the characters – guys and girls who are just as ordinary and sometimes as unrestrained as we are, slaves to their irreparable imperfections.

With the cinematography and sets bathed in his trademark intense hues – we only need think of his previous feature, The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo, with the titular colour seeping into everything – the director and producer once again resorts to pop art as a light-hearted way of looking at the world and ourselves. After all, the movie does not attempt to analyse why we are so ridiculous; it simply holds up an entertaining mirror before us so that, as with a joke or a prank, we are able to understand and accept ourselves a little better, ever with a smile on our lips.

Pet Peeves is a co-production by Spanish outfits Los Hermanos Polo and Japonica Films, together with Mexico’s Paloma Negra Films and Whisky Content. Its Spanish distribution is handled by Syldavia Cinema, which is planning a theatrical release on 24 October.