It might seem that empty (or emptied) Spain is doomed to a documentary fate in the cinema. However, Ainhoa Rodríguez resists this and many other narrative and representational automatisms in her surprising debut feature, Destello bravío.
In addition to fictional plots undoubtedly rooted in the documentary subsoil, there are natural actors, fantastic lighting, absurdist humour and a psychedelic soundtrack. The aesthetic swing from the general shot to the close-up has a narrative intention: the characters in the film cannot be understood without the landscape they inhabit. The plains of Extremadura, flattened by the sun and the silence, cut out even more the loneliness of the individuals who walk through them. Something similar happens with the streets of the village and even the interior of the houses, shown with emphatic framing, always taking advantage of the door and window frames to enclose the protagonists even more.
When we get to the short shot (the face, the wrinkles, the hairdos that smell of hairspray, the pink lipstick, the string of pearls and the matching earrings), Ainhoa Rodríguez's gaze is pure devotion to these women who need to break with the shackles of the past but who also depend on the traditions through which they have forged their identity. In order to blow everything out of the water, there is nothing more effective than to steal the forms from the video mainstream and release in slow motion the desire of a group of middle-aged women.
ANDREA MORÁN FERRÉS