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FILMS Spain

Review: En las estrellas

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- Zoe Berriatúa maintains his daring approach with his new film, a fascinating and unclassifiable fable that oozes his passionate, blind love for cinema

Review: En las estrellas
Luis Callejo and Jorge Andreu in En las estrellas

Three years ago, Los héroes del mal [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the feature debut by thus-far actor, short-film director and cartoonist Zoe Berriatúa, was for many people a bit like a brutal punch to the stomach, churning people’s guts with its contained violence and its unpleasant portrait of youth. Now, for the majority of viewers, his second film, En las estrellas [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, will arouse feelings at the other end of the spectrum – the tender, fanciful and staunchly cinephilic end – such as astonishment, surprise and incomprehension… However, those who watch it with untainted, uninhibited and unprejudiced eyes will feel a sense of fascination, amazement and admiration.

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Starring Luis Callejo, Macarena Gómez and young Jorge Andreu, flanked by Kiti Mánver, José Luis García Pérez, Ingrid García Jonsson and Magüi MiraEn las estrellas teeters between reality and imagination as it tells of the meandering transformation of a father and son who, at certain points, swap roles. The bearded, quixotic, alcoholic and unkempt Víctor is a widower who never ceases to make films, watch them (a bit too much), and live his life through the camera lens and through movies themselves: “The most important thing in life is film!” he exclaims unequivocally. His son, nine-year-old Ingmar (that’s right, named after the unforgettable Swedish maestro), will stick by him as he attempts to be a good parent, without ever ceasing to instil his one great passion in his child. After all, perhaps this is the best way to face up to – sad, harsh – reality.

And to enable the viewer to also immerse themselves in this magical and unfettered universe created by the most unsuccessful filmmaker in the world – but one whose devotion to the cinephilic cause never wavers – Berriatúa actually builds the fabulous worlds that this train wreck of a father describes to his offspring, for the audience’s enjoyment. Thus stop-motion animation rubs shoulders with its digital counterpart to create En las estrellas, a science-fiction story within this very film, in which fantasy and imagination know no bounds.

Chock-full of both classic and modern film references (ranging from Chaplin, Fritz Lang and DW Griffith to Hitchcock, Fellini and Coppola), and with the Czech Republic’s Karel Zeman ever in its crosshairs, this heartfelt tribute to George Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon does not conform to any specific genre, and nor does it seek out any particular audience. It merely intends to be a grand manifesto of love for film by a director (the son of the equally unclassifiable filmmaker Luciano Berriatúa) who has dared – with the support of a courageous trio of producers (good on you, Álex de la Iglesia, Carolina Bang and Kiko Martínez!) – to convert his own unmistakeable world into images without pandering to the box office, trends or conventions. The result is the most “alien” Spanish film of the year and, at the same time, one of the most beautiful, zany, creative, artistic, free-spirited and beguiling ones… Beguiling, at least, for those people who happen to adore cinema as much as the Berriatúas themselves.

The film, written and directed by Berriatúa, was produced by Pokeepsie Films SLNadie es Perfecto PCSLLa Bestia Produce SLU and Las Estrellas la Película AIE, with the involvement of RTVEMovistar Plus+ and Vodafone, and backing from the ICAA. The Spanish distribution is managed by Vercine, while its international sales are being handled by Film Factory Entertainment.

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