After venturing into non-fiction with The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Javier Polo
scheda film], a co-production with Mexico that is now being screened at the 40th edition of Cinema Jove. We had a conversation with him in Valencia — the city where he was born, lives, and works.

Cineuropa: What is the biggest pet peeve for a filmmaker?
Javier Polo: I’m afraid I’ll have to give a boring answer: funding. Being told “no” all the time: because you’re too early or late, because the film’s too commercial, because it's too auteur, etc.

But in Mexico, they said “yes.”
We met the Mexican producers at the Berlinale market. We needed a final push to secure the financing, and they also got involved in post-production. 

But it's filmed here in Valencia and 80% of the cast is from here: Pablo Molinero, Marta Belenguer, Arturo Valls and Lorena López, among others.
Right, except for Vito Sanz, Javier Coronas, Andrea Duro and Berta Vázquez, they are all from Valencia.

You previously directed documentaries, but now you’re working on pure fiction in a feature-film format.
It was very intimidating, because I’d never directed actors with such established careers. I prepared for it and really enjoying working with 16 very different performers — each with their own quirks, habits, and eccentricities. There’s no going back now. Fiction allows you to create universes from scratch. Actors are part of that process, bringing characters and psychological backgrounds. I want to keep exploring fiction, though I’ll return to documentaries at some point — whether real or not, like my first film.

And are you still working in advertising?
Now I do more than ever: you work flat out for a month and get immediate results. I’ve learned a lot from it, I enjoy it, and it allows me to earn money and live more comfortably, because money in the film industry is scarce...

Where did the idea come from for the watchmaker played by Pablo Molinero, who links the different stories in Pet Peeves?
He’s like the god Cronos, a metaphor for life, because we're just passing through here, but obsessions and manias take up too much space in our lives. With the film, I try to reflect on how much of the blame lies with us. Maybe we need to laugh and learn to deal with them, or at least take a philosophical view, since we’re only passing through this world. Human beings are in a cycle of learning and making mistakes: this happens to all the characters in the film, which is a bit pessimistic or dark, but life isn't like Mr. Wonderful. It's the same thing that happens to all of us: we've been in toxic relationships that we knew we shouldn't have stayed in, or we're better off alone, but we end up in a relationship, etc. It's inevitable — we can't escape ourselves.

Is it a kind of Valencian version of Wild Tales [+leggi anche:
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Yes — they’re wild Mediterranean stories, more garish and folkloric, like us: kitsch, less violent, and more surreal. That film is definitely a benchmark, the highest-grossing Argentine film in history and an Oscar nominee. But you have to find your own style. Ours is refreshing — it’s a “quirky” comedy.

The humour is mischievous, dark, ironic and surreal.
Yes, perhaps in the vein of early Álex de la Iglesia or Quentin Dupieux. You always have a thousand films in your head, but you have to let go of your references and follow your instinct... and play. If you overthink everything, you risk losing the identity and wildness that make my projects feel alive. If you start intellectualising everything and judging yourself based on what others might say, you lose your way.

Is the film laughing at us or with us?
At us, with us, and others too. When creating characters, it’s inevitable to draw on friends and family, people on the street, and yourself. You can get a lot of ideas there, as long as no one gets offended by recognising themselves in the film.

Finally, which character in the film – or their ordeal – do you identify with most?
Like Marta Belenguer, I find noises really annoying. In the quiet carriage of a train, when people talk and use their phones, and the worst is when people shout while talking on the phone. Mobile phones should be left at the entrance of cinemas.