Original release: Para Elisa
Synopsis
When a Spanish student needs money for her senior trip, she applies for a babysitting job, unaware of the circumstances. Can she stay alive, save her best friend, and still make her senior trip?
Review
Well, this was a turn up for the books. Ana is short of cash and turns to a babysitting job to fund a grad trip. Her mother is sick of her demands for money - what could be another choice? Still, Ana turns up for the job and is confronted with a very different "baby" to look after.
What sets For Elisa aside is not only the delivery, but also the performance. Ana has a (scum sucking, drug dealing) boyfriend, who, at the start of the film, is close to being the antagonist. He wants her in nothing more than a carnal fashion, which drives the character towards the light - a paid job. Ana is clearly torn between her friends and a more respectable offering. To which she takes a job as a babysitter. When she arrives for the position, the sitee is a grow women, perhaps older than Ana and then the proverbial hits the fan.
The film plays between three parts in large. Ona Casamiquela (Darker Than Night) is Ana, the mother of the child is Luisa Gavasa (Love in Difficult Times), and the child is played by Ana Turpin
(Uma). All three do a wonderful job. Ona plays the part of the torn teen well. Her drive to be with her boyfriend is there, but she is also driven by a desire to succeed. Luisa Gavasa is damn right terrifying in the role of the antagonist, only to be over taken by Ana Turpin.
Man, this gets bloody.
And weird.
As the film progresses, as they say, the body count rises. No spoilers here.
The performance of Ana Turpin is unsurpassed. She is both a victim and an aggressor. And it gets nasty. Nothing can be taken from writer/director Juanra Fernández. Staggeringly good cinematography, meets sharp as nails writing. This is hard horror, with performances to boot. The only thing that lets it down is the runtime - only just over one hour fifteen. But that's not to take anything away from it. It's a hell of a ride.
This one rolls a fantastic horror trail. It starts off as a slow burn, and by the end, it's rampant in Leatherface turf.
Highly recommended.
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