Sitges 2019, exploring the limit of the fantastic.
The 52nd Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival is over and we have opted walks, endless queues, the daily sessions and especially the excitement of plunging into these 10 days of fantastic cinema on stage that never fails to enchant. I must say that besides programming delivered by the Festival, Sitges is a beautiful place that always surprises with the most beautiful sunset every day.
This year, my count is 29 movies: 26 long, 1 medium and 2 short films. A lot. What can I say about this banquet? There are several things that can be said, of course; but I think what the general vision can summarize is that in this year the curatorship has been researching a little beyond the conventional, featuring auteur cinema
that explores the fantastic to tell something that not only entertains but questions issues of actuality from what does not come as plausible in our reality.
Many hallway comments have been: “And where is the fear?”, “This movie is crap, did someone understand it?”, “In these movies, nothing happens!” But the thing is that there are many (not all, of course) that have an intention that is not only to entertain and keep the public in tension. I would say that the concept that permeates most of those I saw and enjoyed, is subtlety.
Something that has caught my attention is the number of films of French and Belgian origin, which have in common a particular aesthetic and a point of view that converge in this sensation of delicacy in the story. I don’t say they are all good movies, but it is curious that it leaves with a similar sensation of each one of them. The same with Nordic films, it is impossible not to recognize their environment, the way of telling their stories and that emotional distance that becomes so exotic and so recognizable at the same time.
Of course, I didn’t see all the movies. It is impossible. Of the winners, I only had the opportunity to see 3 and “El Hoyo”, the big winner, is pending. But of those that I saw, there are a few that I devoured with pleasure, and others that I still can’t digest completely. Here is my summary:
The jewels
The jewels are those that you know they will give what to talk about and that move you. My favorites of this version.
There is something there
Come on, it can’t be all gems, but these are worth it, and very much:
The WTF
They are those movies in which when you finish them, you think: what did I just see?