Review: As Neves
- Sonia Méndez's first fiction film presents another incommunicado, icy and young society of the snow, although here the accident is not aerial but computer-related
What would happen if we had no internet? For those of us who grew up in analogue times, it would mean a rest for our pupils and neurons. But for those who are digitally "one-armed" (since one of their hands, always busy with the mobile phone, is useless for the other tasks most of the time) such a possibility means the most terrible and unimaginable of catastrophes. This is one of the issues addressed in As Neves [+see also:
interview: Sonia Méndez
film profile]. A film by Sonia Méndez, with which she makes her fiction debut after making the documentary A poeta analfabeta and with which she competed for the Biznagas in the official section of the 27th Malaga Film Festival.
As Neves is also the name of the Galician village where the action of this feature film takes place. It begins with a party where drugs are rife, and a video is filmed without consent which should not trigger any conflict, as it belongs to the privacy of the people who appear in it... but it will instead cause quite a commotion. The next day it is discovered that one of the girls who appears in the stolen images has not returned home. An investigation is launched into finding her whereabouts while an ice storm sweeps through the town, leaving it cut off - physically and virtually - from the rest of the world.
It is then that these kids lose their usual sources of fantasy, distraction and escapism through screens, having to face a particularly harsh and complicated reality, as no one remembers for sure what happened the night they all got high. Méndez, also the film’s screenwriter and co-producer, closely accompanies her actors, sharing their joys, camaraderie, fears, uncertainties, jealousies, rebelliousness and a high degree of confusion.
The teenage years are not a paradise of light, colour and perfect bodies that Instagram sells, but a pressure cooker full of doubts. As Neves therefore stands as another portrait of a youth removed from adults, who have no idea what their children feel, desire or experience.
Along with the feeling of guilt that spreads like a pandemic among them, this lack of communication (intergenerational, but also between these super-connected kids) becomes the axis of a youth drama dressed up as a rural thriller. And newcomers add authenticity to this fiction, but in some scenes betray their lack of expressive skill in front of the camera. All in all, the film manages to maintain the suspense of its police plot while depicting the use - and abuse - of technology.
As Neves is produced by Aquí y Allí Films and Cósmica Producións. Its international sales are managed by Begin Again Films.
(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
