THE DEAD MOTHER (La Madre Muerta)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Sound format: Dolby Stereo
Despite its elegant camera-work and intricate visual trickery, Juanma Bajo Ulloa's LA MADRE MUERTA is a cold and melancholy work which tells the tale of a ruthless killer (Karra Elejalde) who is prone to bouts of dispassionate, unconscionable violence. The only sympathetic character in the film is a mentally handicapped mute (an extraordinarily evocative performance by Ana Alvarez), whose inability to react to the consequences of Elejande's violence places a visual and emotional barrier between the audience and the disturbing events on-screen. Though somewhat overlong, the film is nevertheless sustained by a driving music score and a wealth of brilliantly-realised scenes (such as Elejalde's stalking of an old woman in her kitchen, and the nail-biting attempt by a terrified nurse to rescue Alvarez from her captors). The tragicomic ending is a particularly nice touch.
(Spanish dialogue)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Sound format: Dolby Stereo
Despite its elegant camera-work and intricate visual trickery, Juanma Bajo Ulloa's LA MADRE MUERTA is a cold and melancholy work which tells the tale of a ruthless killer (Karra Elejalde) who is prone to bouts of dispassionate, unconscionable violence. The only sympathetic character in the film is a mentally handicapped mute (an extraordinarily evocative performance by Ana Alvarez), whose inability to react to the consequences of Elejande's violence places a visual and emotional barrier between the audience and the disturbing events on-screen. Though somewhat overlong, the film is nevertheless sustained by a driving music score and a wealth of brilliantly-realised scenes (such as Elejalde's stalking of an old woman in her kitchen, and the nail-biting attempt by a terrified nurse to rescue Alvarez from her captors). The tragicomic ending is a particularly nice touch.
(Spanish dialogue)