If in Marshland [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Alberto Rodríguez
fiche film] Alberto Rodríguez revealed to the world the Guadalquivir marshes—a fascinating, beautiful and mysterious landscape stretching south of his beloved hometown, Seville—then in Los Tigres [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] he turns to western Andalusia, using the industrial area of neighbouring Huelva as a backdrop. This landscape of smoking metal towers, a polluting, brutal and impressively photogenic city, is ideal for both a post-apocalyptic film and a social portrait by Oscar winner Sean Baker. His new film, competing in the official section of the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival, unfolds in this majestic yet terrifying man-made setting, contrasted with the natural depths of the ocean where its central characters work.

The protagonists are Antonio (played with his usual energy by Antonio de la Torre in his latest collaboration with Rodríguez after Marshland) and Estrella (Bárbara Lennie), both children of a diver, raised almost more in the water than on land: half-fish or mermaid. Antonio is the most skilled professional in the area, while Estrella—deaf since a childhood water accident—assists him from a barge. When she receives an enticing job offer in Vigo and Antonio suffers an accident that places a limit on his diving career, their already precarious financial situation becomes even more strained. But perhaps this could change if they pull off a heist... underwater.

What initially looks like an adventure film or a thriller about robberies in the sea, a strikingly crafted feature film emerges that can mislead viewers with its eye-catching imagery above and below the water. Because Los Tigres – a nickname given to its central characters in honour of the 19th century unbeatable pirates, fighters, anti-colonialists and rebels of Mompracen, led by the legendary Sandokan and sprung from the hyper-fertile mind of Italian writer Emilio Salgari – is, at its core, a film about tormented souls. Their subconscious, traumas and rivalries weigh heavier than their more or less successful exploits above and below the water.

Rodríguez and his head co-writer Rafael Cobos are more concerned about exploring the psychologies of two siblings who love and repel each other in equal measure, complement each other and need each other. And although the film is shot with the flair of a die-hard James Cameron fan—inevitably evoking comparisons with Abyss—which will draw audiences to cinemas and platforms alike in search of overwhelming, striking images (which it offers in abundance, filmed with great technical skill and craftsmanship), it prefers to delve into the inner lives of its two central characters. Antonio and Estrella are a Quixote and Sancho of the deep blue sea: human amphibians, and misfits.

Los Tigres is an original Movistar Plus+ film produced by Kowalski Films, Feelgood Media, Movistar Plus+, Mazagón Films AIE and Le Pacte. Distributed by Buena Vista International, it will be released in Spanish cinemas on 31 October. Its international sales are managed by Film Factory.