Piggy

Greetings again from the darkness. There are bullies. There are those who get bullied. There are bystanders who watch the bullying. There are those who get involved. Writer-director Carlota Martinez-Pereda's 14 minute gem won the Goya for Best Short Fiction Film, and her film is remarkable in its ability to wring out so many emotions so quickly.

Sara (played beautifully by actress Laura Galan) has purposefully chosen off hours for a dip at the local swimming pool. She nervously scans the area as she slowly prepares to enter the water. She is startled by a man surfacing. The two make eye contact as he heads to his parked truck. We viewers see something that Sara doesn't.

Once Sara is in the water, a group of girls, including one she knows, begin to verbally abuse her - calling her names and making fun of her overweight physique. Soon one of them is using the cleaning net to hold Sara's head underwater. The man in the truck watches this unfold. By the time Sara climbs out of the pool, the girls and the man have disappeared, along with her clothes.

As Sara begins the trek on foot, dressed only in her swimsuit, a group of boys in a passing car hurl verbal insults her direction. We never hear a word from Sara, but her facial and physical reactions tell us all we need to know - she's been through this before and shows the pain, anger, and embarrassment. As she progresses on her walk home, she comes across the man in the truck. We are reminded of two sayings: Payback is h**", and Karma is a b****.

'Piggy (2018)' is a short film about a teenager who is left stranded in her bikini after a bunch of bullies harass her at a public school. The embarrassing walk home takes a turn when the girl makes a shocking discovery. The picture is a confronting morality tale that makes no judgements on its protagonist, allowing her to react to her situation in a nuanced and potentially unpredictable way. Presented in a 4:3 format with a generally muted colour palette, the piece has a rustic and pseudo throwback vibe that gives it a distinct visual identity. It's somewhat gritty but not overly grungy, to the point that it reflects the bleakness of its plot without attempting to falsely enhance it. Thanks to its subject matter, it's not an especially enjoyable experience. However, it's an engaging and confident experience throughout. It does show its hand a little early by including a shot intended to add suspense in the first act that accidentally undercuts the unpredictability of the narrative, providing at least a hint of where things are heading. The final moments also aren't as cathartic as they may have been intended to be, principally because they require the audience to disregard any empathy they have for anyone who isn't the protagonist. Still, it's an effective ending that isn't afraid of its own darkness and nicely mirrors a key moment earlier on in the piece. Ultimately, this is a solid short that's confidently crafted, but never quite grips you as much as you'd like it to.

Carlota is clearly a talented writer and director, and needs to make a feature that I would no doubt love to see. Review is very short, as I'm tired.

Incredible storyline and revenge scene, I enjoyed every second of it, seeing bullies get what's coming to them makes my day, I honestly hope that anyone who's being bullied badly has a man like this in their life, the director sure knows how to keep the audience entertained, I would absolutely kill to see more movies like this in the future, the message in this short film is very significant and crucial. I will most definitely be watching the full feature length 2022 movie remake as soon as I can, films like these just go to show that you should just treat people kindly, being a victim of bullying myself around 10 years ago and then seeing this short film gave me comfort, an incredible masterpiece that everyone should watch, 10/10💪

White it's gettable what the movie tries to show, and it's real issues with an entertaining and well made plot, but still the motivations of characters are all a bit messed up and in the end, you end up feeling sad for most of them.

I liked this in a way as this was my first spanish film, and I was able to see many things that might reflect Spanish society, not in a postive/negative sort of way, but just in a raw manner.

Overall, It was a nice experience and it made me think about so many aspects, particularly body shaming, loneliness and madness within people. How small things can lead to big events, but I wouldn't recommend it as your usual weekend watch, as I wanted the film to end quickly at times.