16/09/2022 - Carlos Vermut once again leads the viewer into such turbulent territories that, days after watching his fourth feature film, his stimuli continue to strike our neurons

If Carlos Vermut (most certainly Madrid’s answer to David Lynch) did not exist, he would have to be invented. Thanks to his unaccommodating audiovisual work, Spanish cinema reaches levels of disturbance that few dare to even contemplate (see Magical Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile] or Quién te cantará [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile]). Although this year there are two other Spanish films that swim in the murky waters of the disturbing –the tense The Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabe…
film profile] by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and the bloody Piggy [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Carlota Pereda
film profile], from newcomer Carlota Martínez Pereda– Manticore [+see also:
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile], which has just enjoyed its world premiere in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the Toronto Film Festival, surpasses them in terms of discomfort, which is saying something.

Because not since Agustí Villaronga's incredible debut In a Glass Cage, back in 1986, can this critic remember a film that has had the courage to tackle an almost taboo subject in world cinema, which we are not going to reveal here. Suffice to say, the main character is a creator of imaginary creatures for videogames who, hiding his deepest desires and after saving a neighbourhood kid from a fire, believes he finds an end to his inner conflicts in a person he meets at a party.

All we can say is that some may find the story amoral or scandalous, but which - under the surface - addresses the need for affection that we all have, even the most abominable and abject monster imaginable.

Leaving room for the audience to fill the silences and mysteries of some scenes (there is one particularly disturbing one, which remains engraved in the brain for days), the spirit of the Manticore (a mythological being half human, half beast) takes over the film, half romantic comedy, half psychological thriller which, after the Canadian festival, will come to Sitges.

Its main character has the gentle presence and “Ana Torrent-like” eyes of actor Nacho Sánchez (Goya nominated for Seventeen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
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Obviously neither Sánchez nor Zoe Stein are George Clooney and Julia Roberts, although I would pay to see the two stars in a Carlos Vermut project: that would be as fascinatingly terrifying as this Manticore which will rank the best of the film season... even if it disturbs or upsets some.

Manticore is a (brave) production of Aquí y Allí Films, BTeam Prods and Punto Nemo AIE, distributed by Bteam Pictures. Its sales agent is Film Factory and it will be released this autumn in Spanish cinemas.

(Translated from Spanish)