The Finnish film ‘Sisu’ sweeps the Sitges Festival

‘Sisu’, a Finnish production has been the great winner of the 55th edition of the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival. Directed by Jelmai Halander (‘Big Game’), it has won the award for best film, best male performance for Jorma Tommila, best music and best photography. Also on the list of winners is the South Korean ‘Project Wolf Hunting’, by Kim Hong-sun, which won the special jury prize, and ‘Parl’, a North American Canadian production by Ti West, won the award for best director and best female performance for Mia Goth. . Spanish cinema has to make do with the award for special, visual and make-up effects for ‘Irati’, which, yes, has won the audience award.

‘Sisu’ is a fantastic film that drinks from sources of war and western cinema. Set during World War II, after two years of searching, a Finnish explorer finally finds the treasure of his life, a loot of gold that he will try to transport from the wastelands of Lapland to the city, through a vast territory occupied by Nazi troops. . Soon an unequal confrontation will begin between the scout and the German army.

Almost without dialogue, ‘Sisu’ is a film with a touch of humor, others terrible, that goes from comics to overwhelming action scenes. The award for best film is well deserved, and the award for male performance for an actor with almost no dialogue and the award for best photography are more debatable, just for portraying the lonely Nordic steppes.

‘Pearl’ is part of a trilogy that also includes ‘X’, already released, and the future ‘Maxxxine’. The film delves into the character of Pearl, trapped in her family’s isolated farm, who has to care for her sick father under the bitter and domineering watch of her devoted mother. Longing for a glamorous life like the one in the movies, Pearl will discover that her ambitions and temptations collide head-on with the oppressive and puritanical environment in which she lives. The very young Mia Goth embroiders the character to whom she gives an overwhelming force.

‘Project Wolf Hunting’ once again shows the vitality of current South Korean cinema. A cargo ship is assigned to a special mission called ‘Project Wolf Hunting’, transporting the most heinous incarcerated criminals from Manila to Busan. A 1,630-mile voyage soon turns into a floating inferno with no escape when the prisoners start a riot on board, awakening a sinister force to help free them. Bloody and fantastic, it is a film that offers what is expected of it, which is not little.