Cineuropa Link: https://cineuropa.org/es/newsdetail/468285/
Pablo Hernando confirms himself as one of the most unique voices of the new Spanish cinema with a science fiction 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 hitwoman. But that power comes from a strange connection with another world, a world inhabited by monstrous sea creatures that, while giving her special abilities, slowly takes away her humanity. This is the mysterious plot of A Whale, the new film by Pablo Hernando (one of the most interesting voices of the so-called “The other Spanish cinema”, director of such unique films as Cabás, Berserker [ + ] or Esa sentir [ + ], written and directed with Juan Cavestany and Julián Génisson ), in whose cast also participate Ramón Barea, Kepa Errasti and Asier Tartás, and which is presented at the Sitges Festival.
A Whale is one of those films that it is best to go and see without knowing anything about them. Through 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 shadowy places that exist in all of us, of the impossibility of fully unraveling someone, of the struggle between the human and the animal, of the monstrous, of the presence of the ghostly and the extraordinary in reality; also of the passage of time and loneliness, of how we become who we are, of the weight of the past in the present and in the future, of a world that disappears.
Pablo Hernando explores all of this with imagination, suggestion and mystery, more through what is not said than what is said, letting the images speak and suggest ideas, emotions, and moods. Therein lies one of the film’s great assets. The director delves into the noir genre (with an interesting game that mixes clear references to Jean-Pierre Melville’s French polar film in Le Samouraï with Herman Melville’s imagery in Moby Dick) through a daring and original crossover with a horror that is at times costumbrist (which will easily remind us of other films from that Spanish cinema on the margins). The result is a film whose dark form speaks of that mystery that runs through it at its core, which knows how to play with the freedom that the genre allows, with the possibilities of the symbolic (the metaphors offered by the marine world are very present), fantasy, sound, tone, color, textures, off-screen. Hernando also succeeds with an austere, sombre, enigmatic, and at the same time somewhat beautiful staging, achieving visually powerful images that capture that sea whose depths we can never fully see.
Una ballena is a brave and characterful neo-noir, a step beyond Pablo Hernando, a film as cryptic as it is beautiful, at times hypnotic. Perhaps one of its greatest achievements lies in its ability to play with beauty, terror, the freedom of mystery and the imagination of the viewer, and to let each of us interpret and give our own meaning to what we see on the screen. Without a doubt, a film that confirms Hernando as one of the most unique filmmakers on the current Spanish scene.
Una ballena is a co-production between Spain and Italy by the companies Señor & Señora , Orisa Produzioni and Sayaka Producciones . International sales are handled by Latido Films and distribution in Spain by Elastica Films .
