Quién te cantará

What was the point of Violeta telling Lila to call herself? What was the significance of the dream? Interesting, but jerky plot . Well-performed. Needs second or third watch to make any sense out of the story.

'Quién te Cantará'/'Who will Sing to you' is essentially a film about four women: the two main characters and the two major supporting ones. But it does not strike me as being particularly a "women's picture", nor, thankfully, one that is railing against "the Patriarchy" or similar.

Lila is a former pop singer who stopped performing ten years ago, following the death of her mother. Now (sporting a desperately unflattering hairstyle) she lives in a beautiful beach house that is financed by album royalties. But those royalties are drying up so a comeback tour is planned. Disaster strikes when, just a few months before the tour, Lila "faints in the water" on the beach and develops amnesia.

Violeta is a huge fan of Lila. A talented songwriter, she gave up hope of a showbiz career when her daughter was born. Now working as a bartender in a karaoke bar, she finds some small pleasure in impersonating Lila's performances in YouTube videos. The real, amnesiac, Lila sees one of these videos and dispatches her manager Blanca to secure Violeta's services to teach her "how to be Lila".

After Lila, Violeta and Blanca, the fourth woman is Violeta's daughter Marta, and it is with her the film has its biggest flaw. Marta, a young adult, is such a one-note villain she would not be out of place in a pantomime. She is lazy, has no sense of responsibility, boasts to friends of sexual encounters with their boyfriends and repeatedly uses threats of self-harm to get Violeta to do her bidding. With the exception of the businesslike Blanca, none of the characters are particularly realistic in their behaviour - but Marta takes it to Olympic levels. Although she is allowed a couple of redeeming scenes - we see her apologise to her mother for a tantrum that included smashing a treasured signed Lila album - she is an unbelieveable soap opera villainess.

Director/screenwriter Carlos Vermut has made this a fairly arty film - there are several lengthy shots of people doing nothing and a pair of thick-soled stiletto heels are often placed prominently in shot as some sort of recurring theme. But the story is interesting and holds the viewer's attention - even if he does find himself sighing in exasperation whenever the hysterical Marta appears onscreen.

Seen at the 2018 London Film Festival.

QUIEN TE CANTARA, the new film by Carlos Vermut was absolutely astonishing. Masterfully dealing with themes of identification, art's effect and merit, and the self.

Some gorgeous cinematography and music and an incredible performance by Eva Llorach. It felt like a mix of Persona and Black Swan in some instances, with Vermut having a perfect grasp on balancing the film's near horrific thriller scenes with its more abstract imagery.

They tie into eachother so well that I'm sure there's more I'll pick up on on further watches - 10/10

A famous retired singer decides she needs to resume her career due to financial problems. On her way to the stage for her triumphant return, she has an accident and wakes up with amnesia. To resolve the issue, Violeta, an anonymous imitator of the singer, appears to ensure the return of the great Diva.

The mother's permissiveness bothers me deeply, I don't know if it was due to a lack of strength to fight or if she simply gave up due to so much aggression on the part of her daughter, disgusting... A film with several layers, about the relationship between mother and daughters, about flawed dreams , the realization of them and the freedom to be yourself, necessary but commonly underestimated... Great film, graceful and strong photography, good, intense performances, slow but favorable pace...

After Lila (Najwa Nimri) is found unconscious in the water, she has amnesia, so her friend Blanca (Carme Elias) helps her recover. Lila's house is right on the waterfront, and is quite grand, so Blanca tells her she'll need to start singing at concerts again to support her lifestyle. Acc to the trivia section, the story of a singer retiring after the death of a family member is based on a real japanese singer, although i would guess it's a frequent occurence. Co-stars Eva Llorach as Violeta, Natalia de Molina as Marta. The script is so sparse.... it's almost artistic. Lots of still and slowly panning images. As the story goes on, we find out more and more details of what led Lila to be on the beach. And everyone's relationship with their own mother. Some things are left unanswered, so it may not be for everyone. And some scenes just go on way too long. (Marta) it really didn't need to be over two hours long. I'll need to watch this again to try to figure out just what happened. Nimri had been in the successul Open your Eyes, the original spanish version of vanilla sky here in the u.s. Cantara is subtitled on netflix. Written and directed by carlos vermut. Many awards at the film festivals. He seems to like to write and direct his own projects.