#foreigncinema

This woman. This restaurant. This moment. For the rest of my life. I am an incredibly lucky man.

A series of mysterious events change the life of a blind pianist who now must report a crime that was actually never witnessed by him.

This film totally blew me away. It's a black comedy rolled into a drama rolled into a thriller rolled into horror. An absolute masterpiece and I cannot recommend it enough.

Do watch it and then let me know what you think!!

Rottentomatoes.com summary: “ The mournful fable of the Santa Lucia School during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. An imposing stone building set on a desolate plateau, the school shelters the orphans of the Republican militia and politicians, and other abandoned children. Gradually, Carlos uncovers the dark ties that bind the inhabitants of the school, including the secret that haunts them--Santi, a student who was brutally murdered, and whose pale ghost now wanders the grounds”

In my opinion, Guillermo Del Toro does his best work when crafting films in his own native language. This film often takes a backseat to his better-known fantasy horror Pan’s Labyrinth which is also set during the Spanish Civil War, and it is a shame because it has its own unique brand of stylised desolation that rivals that of the latter film. There is a sense of oppressive hopelessness throughout the film because of the child protagonist, Carlos, played by  Fernando Tielve, gives such an empathetic performance, that the audience is left completely understanding how horrifying and insurmountable things can seem from the perspective of a ten-year-old.  Del Toro has always been incredibly adept at exploiting the real horrors of history to feed into the supernatural horror of his films and does so elegantly, feeding elements of the hardships of daily life under a dictatorship to make a truly moving story.