Noteworthy films at the Spanish Film Festival

After the Korean Film Festival now came Pelicula: Spanish Film Festival (Oct. 10-19, Greenbelt 3). Yet, for this one, I was only able to see two films. Even so, those films can be considered as worthy of one's time. 

• "10,000 Nights Nowhere" (10,000 noches en ninguna parte) by Ramon Salazar (2013, 113 mins) 

This film tells the story of a 27-year-old man (portrayed by Andres Gertrudix, who's nameless throughout) who's living three "parallel" lives: as a son who's burdened with taking care of an alcoholic mother in Madrid;as a drifter who meets his childhood friend in Paris;and as a run-away who lives with a painter, together with her bohemian friends, in Berlin. The title refers to the "equivalent in hours" of the man's age - 10,000 nights (27 years) of a seemingly purposeless life. The film evokes the metaphysical dramas of Terrence Malick and Krzysztof Kieslowski in terms of mood and style. Thus said, it may not appeal to everyone's taste. "10,000 Nights Nowhere" follows a non-linear narrative that juggles the young man's three parallel - and probably, overlapping - lives, something which may test the patience of non-adventurous viewers. But for those willing to embrace the film's challenges may find the experience amply rewarding and insightful, especially that the film is filled with those seemingly "minor" details that would later on say something significant about the characters' lives. In terms of plot and character development, one may find that there's really not much "happening" at all, which is to be understood as the film is more on mood, atmosphere and psychology - an exercise in evocation - instead of the Hollywood-like action, spectacle and climax. It's to be likewise noted that "10,000 Nights Nowhere" makes incredible use of sound design (by Alvaro Lopez-Arregui) in evoking mood and as a transitional or connecting device between scenes. 

• "Cannibal" (Caníbal) by Manuel Martin Cuenca (2013, 116 mins) 

This film is about a tailor named Carlos (portrayed by Antonio de la Torre) who lives alone in Granada and has a literal appetite for young and beautiful women (thus, the title). "Cannibal" is one film that has an ingeniously-constructed opening scene that appropriately draws us into the world of its deeply-disturbed main character, especially that it's then revealed that the scene is taken from his point of view (something which may recall the opening shot in Michael Haneke's "Hidden"). Those who are expecting the film to be a gore fest, which the title may initially imply, will surely be disappointed. Except for an early scene wherein, as the camera is focused on the feet of Carlos' victim, we hear the sound of the body being butchered and afterwards blood oozes from the corpse and down from the table, much of the murder and butchery happens offscreen. What we get to mostly see is the tail-end of the act: the chopped meat neatly-packaged and stored in the fridge and Carlos quietly and ceremoniously having his dinner. This is just rightfully so, a brilliant move on the director's part, as "Cannibal" isn't so much a horror film as a disturbing character study. There's a truly perplexing idea underlying Carlos' psyche: he desires beautiful and young women that's why he literally consumes them;yet, from the standard of "normal behavior", he just can't bring himself to have a loving and intimate relationship with them. And when tragedy thwarts an opportunity for him to "normally" love a woman (possibly for the very first time), it becomes deeply poignant. The film's long takes and spare dialogue immensely aid in putting the viewers at an observational, rather than a judgmental, stance towards Carlos' psychosis. While the forbidding and desolate snowy mountainscape (superbly lensed by Pau Esteve Birba) appropriately masks a dark and terrible secret (this is where Carlos' cabin, where he butchers his victims, is located), something of an inversion of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's wintry melancholy. And of course, further elevating the film is De la Torre, who fits the role of Carlos to a T (no pun intended to the character's occupation). His stoic demeanor properly disguises a complex disturbance that's at once terrifying and heartbreaking. "Cannibal" is one of the best foreign-language films to be screened in our cinemas this year - chilling, disturbing and subversive, without necessarily having to show copious amounts of flesh and blood. 

(Manuel Martin Cuenca's "Cannibal": An excellent film at the just-concluded Spanish Film Festival.)