Rating: D+
Dir: Mateo Gil
Star: Jordi Dauder, Natalia Millán, Juan José Ballesta, Victoria Mora
a.k.a. Regreso a Moira
I’m glad this wasn’t the first entry I happened to see in the series. Because if it had been, this might well have been one and done. It’s simply not very interesting, despite being by the writer of the very impressive Open Your Eyes. Maybe he used up all his imagination there, since this would have struggled to sustain a 15-minute short. It bounces back and forth between the present and over forty years previously. In the current era, Tomás (Dauder) is going back to the rural village where he grew up, having been sent a tarot card, which triggers memories of his youthful experiences there.
In particular, his relationship with a mysterious woman, Moira (Millán), who has moved into town and become the subject of much gossip. Her non-attendance at church is considered suspicious, and she is blamed for the ongoing drought, animals falling sick, etc. The usual witchcraft stuff, in other words – up to and including contorting with Satan. The young Tomás (Ballesta) goes with his pals to her house on a dare, but sprains his ankle and consequently discovers that Moira is hardly the cackling crone of local scuttlebutt. This blossoms into a love affair, which isn’t exactly going to meet with the approval of Tomás’s parents. There’s a strong subtext of religious criticism here, with these villagers in the sixties behaving with all the tolerance of 17th-century residents of Salem.
It’s considerably more of a romance for the majority of the running-time, and the age difference had me thinking, “Well, they kinda have a point,” with regard to the local mob. Maybe not quite to the torches level we eventually reach, but I was leaning towards #TeamVillagers. It certainly could have been disposed of at greatly reduced length, giving the modern era scenes more time to be developed. Instead, there are elements such as the recent suicide of Tomás’s wife, which don’t serve any significant purpose, beyond teeing up a cool, mildly spooky image in a bathtub. It seems he has continued to carry a torch for Moira over forty-plus years, though the question of whether she is a witch, a ghost, or what, are left unanswered.
Forgive me a cheap shot: rather than being a “Film to Keep You Awake”, this is more likely to send you to sleep. I’m not averse to subtle or understated horror. However, there needs to be something on which it can be hung, and there just isn’t enough here to keep me interested. Ballesta isn’t a good actor, compared to the older version of his character, and as a result, most of young Tomás’s scenes are a chore to watch. Meanwhile, Dauder is better, yet his iteration doesn’t get to do much except wander round town, and have mildly enigmatic conversations with old associates. All told, Gil seems more interested in making points about small-town bigotry than horror – or even keeping the viewer conscious.