When separated siblings meet in Spain’s Álex Montoya’s third feature “La Casa,”, based on the Eisner-winning graphic novel by Paco Roca and distributed by Latido Films, they go through many emotions to unpack their father’s death recently.
His last night movie dubbed ‘Lucas’ which won best film, actor (Jorge Motos) as well as Audience Award accolades swept the Zonazine sidebar category of this Fest in 2020 therefore qualifying for official competition selection at this year’s Málaga Film Festival.
This is a reflective journey through collective consciousness that is held to task as the three attempt to revive some semblance of affection while wading through weighty and lingering reminiscences and it resides between Montoya and Joana M. Ortueta in the shape of a bitter-sweet meditation on repentance, obligation and bonds that connect us.
“Since I can remember myself I’ve always been reading comics so I’m quite familiar with his work,” said Álex Montoya speaking on behalf of Variety. “One thing that struck me about La Casa was how simple its story was. However, its simplicity should not fool you because it deals with time passage, memory, and legacy which have been overdone before but Paco did it in an especially effective way. It then took me no time; I had to acquire rights to it.” He ended up saying.
The two producers behind this project are Valencia-based production companies Raw Pictures (”Lucas”) and Nakamura Films (“Stanbrook”). This faithfully maintains Roca’s softly-etched visions of life or even the suffocating yesteryears. A combination of worn-out plants and particles floating around reflects neutral warm tones against a backdrop for pictures making one believe these homes used to be occupied but have now been neglected. It is for this reason that plain-speaking conversations with silences woven into them manage to transmit the author’s nostalgic spirit.
Montoya admitted, “I bought the rights very instinctively but it took me quite a while to decipher how the story was working internally in order for me to be able to adapt it. Eventually, I talked to him about minor changes in the script, even though when writing we had so much freedom as bestowed upon us by Paco, since he was our number one viewer and representative of numerous comic book fans worldwide.”
“Because of this there is some room for slight alterations in structure and script which does not affect the film’s aesthetic and tonal loyalty to comic book lovers who watch movies,” he commented.
The film is steeped with nostalgia and captures the strange blend of anxiety and comfort that comes with being home again. Each encounter brings back memories etched in stone thereby honoring what has been while at the same time muddying up emotions through clouds of present moments. Thus, flashbacks are framed articulating fluid histories into family action visible on screen as if seen through a hazy film projector.
This realization hit Montoya: “Analyzing the comic, I understood that one of its strengths lay in intermingling real-time with memory.”
“I tried several ways of translating this into cinema – eventually, I discovered that I don’t remember things clearly. My memories are flashes that abruptly merge together and get distorted or sometimes look like what you see from an old periscope. That’s why I decided to put them inside a small central square box giving them a texture similar to Super8.” He narrated.
The film has a fly-on-the-wall effect. The audience is positioned like a spy behind the leaves of balcony plants, through empty rooms in the house, towards the mirror image on black screens of an old burnt-out TV. Each shot gives an intimacy that is part of a story about thinking and invites the viewer to join in grieving family going through their minds.
“Film aesthetics and cinematic calligraphy are very important to me. I think this is one of the best ways to make sure that the audience will never forget this movie”. This was supported by Montoya who said “That specificity when you have an exact frame in a real place with specific sounds and lighting for some reason speaks right into our subconscious mind.” “La Casa” was very fortunate because we got access to the location where the comic was based which made shooting heavy and realistic as portrayed on screen.
Goya winner David Verdaguer (“Jokes & Cigarettes”), Luis Callejo (“Valley of the Dead”), Óscar de la Fuente (“The Good Boss”), Olivia Molina (“Bajo Sospecha”), María Romanillos (“The Consequences”), Lorena López (“Los cómplices”), Marta Belenguer (“Asamblea”), Jordi Aguilar (“The Bar”) Miguel Rellán (“Tata Mía”) y Tosca Montoya.
For More Movies Visit Putlocker.