Geliebte Schwester

Saw this at the Rotterdam Film Festival (IFFR) 2017, where it was nominated for the Tiger Award (but not awarded). Very original plot, unusual developments and it got much more complicated than the synopsis on the IFFR website already hinted to. The unexpected turns of events seem inexhaustible, but as soon as you think you've seen them all, a new unexpected thing happens.

It did not bother me that the original setup seemed a bit far-fetched. It became still more surprising after the sister was shown that he filmed everything, that she nevertheless knowingly kept the camera intact. The whole sequence of developments was compelling and there was not a single boring moment.

During the final Q&A, the director told he had ideas since a very long time about a movie that a someone makes for himself and not to show anyone else. He had a lot of friends telling about their private video's, out of which stories he got more ideas that were incorporated in this film. Second idea was pushing someone past the limit. Third idea was a confrontation with your background, your family and everything else that determines where you come from.

Finally, as a side remark, I noticed the very original format for the final credits. It started as a blue B-movie with a naked man and woman on a beach, suddenly changing into credits rolling by in an old-fashioned type cast. It was not obvious to everyone in the audience that this indeed were the final credits, until someone started an applause after which everyone got it that this was the end. It was a nice deviation from the seemingly endless credits that come after most movies, meticulously quoting everyone involved in the film making until the last caterer and chauffeur.

A filmmaker (Julio Perillán) discovers one day that his younger half-sister, Aurora (Ivana Baquero) has appeared in a porn clip he sees online and becomes fascinated by her. He sets up a camera in Aurora's bedroom to spy on her before he begins to seduce the girl and eventually the two enter into a sexual relationship.

Uncomfortable viewing that delves into the dark corners of incest and voyeurism that overrides morals, resulting in flashes of such Hitchock films as REAR WINDOW (1954) and VERTIGO (1958) springing to mind.

What is more surprising which will leave the viewer questioning their own moral judgements is that the main character of Oliver flits between being sympathetic and an unsympathetic character, while Aurora is simply a victim of Oliver's predatory advances.

First of all, this is a movie for adults. I've been watching a lot of enjoyable 'vanilla' movies lately. There was something about the opening shot of this movie that made me think, "this is going to be a real piece of cinema." Whether it was the more natural colour grading and the crisp cinema lense or the single camera work ... it was likely all those factors - there was something I hadn't seen in a good while. This is partly due to the COVID pandemic as well. It starts off as a character study of the deeply contemplative artist. From that point all of my 'vanilla' expectations were unthreaded. Instead we see inside the deepest, most confused parts of the human psyche. It is one of those more brutal, confrontational coming-of-age movies. Life isn't a rom-com, nor is it like this family drama/thriller. It is somewhere in the vast space between (for most of us, I trust). Very inventive within its smaller budget limitations, and very committed in its performances, Sister Of Mine lifts the lid on what primal beasts we are underneath. Commendable adult viewing.

Am I not convinced this is the wrong kind of love? Is that why I put "" to the word? Or am I just giving you the reader (and possible viewer) the opportunity to give your take and moral compass on it. Also there are worse things than the "love" part - included in this movie too.

But let's take this from the start, yes the movie has a theme that is sensible to say the least. Do not expect this to be too graphic though. There are other sources where you'll find more exciting content, if that is what you're looking for. Still we do see and hear things that some sensible people may find disturbing. Overall the dramatic part is well thought of and the movie moves along nicely. Things happen more or less as expected. What I do miss though is not the nudity, but the better display of psychological impact this has on the characters. Not to mention a bit of convenient incident that "resolves" the issue (not saying in what way) ... so this is decent - well not in that way of course or pun very much intended. Good intentions - I think the puns are there whether I would mean to say them or not

Oliver (Julio Perillán), a young film director who lives in LA, Oliver, a film director, discovers on an erotic website that the protagonist of one of the videos is his younger half-sister, his charming little stepsister Aurora (Ivana Baquero). In the process of finding out what she was doing there, Oliver will become fascinated by Aurora. She is a lively student living with her mother (Elisabet Gelabert) and pleased by the attention from her attractive, much older brother. Surprised and confused, he decides to travel to Madrid, where she lives and looks her up for the first time in years. He will become besotted by her in the process of finding out what she was doing there and involving into an intoxicating love. During the obsessive search for answers, an intimate journey towards embarrassment, voyeurism and the truth of the image, a history of domination and manipulation, on the limits of morality and the loss of vital and audiovisual innocence.

A sophisticated and subjugating (at times) film, which shows that cinema is very much an act of voyeurism. A story of domination and manipulation with full of ruggedness , about the limits of morality and the loss of vital and audiovisual innocence. It displays an uneven rhythm with its ups and downs , dealing with the transgression of taboos. A film as peculiar as its perversity and at times it is coherent as well as suggestive, but the results are mediocre and incomprehensible, not knowing very well why the main starring act in such a strange way. Here the protagonists undertake an obsessive search for answers, an intimate journey towards the confusion and truth of the image which shows that cinema is very much an act of voyeurism, but the film loses a certain force when it becomes enclosed in a subplot . Actors give acceptable interpretations, Julio Periñan as the filmmaker who discovers on an erotic website that the protagonist of one of the explicit videos is his younger half-sister Oliver, a young director based in Los Angeles, discovers some erotic videos of his stepfather nicely played by Ivana Baquero providing her first scabrous role. The latter is the famous starring of "Pan's Labyrinth" (the youngest Spanish actress to win a Goya Award at only 12 years old for her performance for this film) , she was chosen among 1,000 girls for the role of Ofelia, the little girl has grown a lot and become a pretty young woman, developing an important international career, in fact along with costar Kevin Costner, shot "The New Daughter" for 3 months in Charleston, South Carolina (Charleston), and stars "The Shannara Chronicles" as well as ¨Another Me¨, ¨The Misfits Club¨, ¨The Anarchist's Wife ¨ , ¨Feedback¨,¨Black Friday¨. She ranked #40 on the Movie-Fanatic.com Top 50 Hottest Young Actresses and she was on the list of the 50 most beautiful published by the magazine "People en Español". In Demonios tus ojos (2017) features Ivana Baquero's first nude scene. And while she is fully dedicated to her acting career, she is also undertaking Law studies.

This is the third feature film by Spanish director Pedro Aguilar (¨La Influencia¨, ¨Naufragio¨), one of the most prominent filmmakers on the national scene proving in Demonios tus ojos who's an acceptable filmmaker although he needs a little more experience in order to shoot notable flicks . Rating: 5/10.