Thursday, November 24th 6:15 pm
Mexico, 2022, 120 min
Language
Spanish with English subtitles
Content Warning
Violence
Director
Isaac Ezban
Writer
Junior Rosario
Producer
Ariel Gordon
Cast
Ofelia Medina, Paola Miguel, Samantha Castillo
Preceded by the short film
Daughters Of Witches
Faride Schroeder Lases, 12 mins, USA
A mother reluctantly brings her newborn to Mexico to participate in an ancient family ritual.
Thus far Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban was known as a director of high concept, sci-fi minded fantastic films. With their fourth film (Evil Eye en ingles) they have taken the plunge and gone back to their first love, horror. Taking a cue from one of his idols and fellow Mexican filmmakers, Guillermo del Toro, Ezban has embraced the world of dark fantasy horror. Mal de ojo is a tale of two sisters, and three more sisters, all wrapped up in dark magic and set against the backdrop of rural Mexico – past and present.
Mexican acting royalty (Ofelia Medina) and the new flesh (Paola Miguel) square off against each other in what starts out as generational differences but descends into hysteria, fear and paranoia as the young Nala suspects that her abuela, Josefa, has nefarious intentions towards her ailing baby sister, Luna. Following del Toro’s lead production design is key and ‘La casa de la abuela’ is a character unto itself. Dry, musty decor drenched with colors from the stained glass windows. Permeate the surroundings with local superstitions and magic, sprinkle in a dangerous creature, or two, then counter those choices with a usurprising element of sensuality and you have all the elements of dark fantasy made for grown-ups.
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