m.a.g.

FILM. I HAVE ELECTRIC DREAMS

We see how a father stops the car, goes out and hits his head against a blue wall, blood spills over his face. Eva, his teenage daughter steps out trying to stop him. And just like that you have a killer film opening that raises questions and you are hooked. Why does the father have this irrational outbursts of violence? How will it affect the world of our heroin? This are the questions that will take us through the second act.

The question is if the director Valentina Laurel can take us through the rest of the story without letting the tension fall. In the first act we want to get to know the characters, the world they live in, and their most inner conflicts. Here we have a teenage girl who wants to save her father from himself. Her intentions are set, we root for her because we empathize with this girl, we want the father to get his act together.

So, the conflict is a potent one. As soon as we empathize with our main character, we let the story take us where it wants to take us, but only for a short while.

Valentina lets us fall in love with Eva and her father, she shows us beautiful scenes between the two, but we still remember the starting point of the film and know that Eva’s father is a time bomb that will go up when we least expect it. But okay, we fall in love with them, everything seems to be going well, but then suddenly Eva gets involved with her father’s roommate, that is way older than her, she loses her virginity to him and confuses lust for love (her father doesn’t know about them).

The natural performance of Daniela Marín Navarro gives us a documentary like sensation, and it seems like we are voyers in the world of this characters, seeing their out most intimate moments. The color palette of this film is bold, reminding me of a Miró painting, with its same surreal undertone. The editing is slow paced but tension rich, which strikes as soon as we let our guard down.

At the end of the second act the stakes get higher. We see how Eva desperately wants to fit into the world of her father, but she gets burned time and time again by disillusions. Eva witnesses how her father takes drugs in a party bathroom, which makes her instantly want to get out of this situation, but her father won’t let her. I highlight this scene in the movie because it’s a turning point for Eva, she will stop trying to save her father and she starts to safe herself. Without giving too much away, the film culminates in a powerful climax, where Eva will finally find her own voice.

After watching this movie at the Viennale film festival I was left with a sensation of sadness and hope, I think it is a very strong debut film for Valentina Laurel. It talks about the topic of domestic violence, giving it all the complexity it deserves and dives deep into the difficult relationship between Eva and her father.

Words: Daniela Univazo