Leonor Will Never Die

Martika Ramirez Escobar's first feature drops a retired Filipino screenwriter into her own film. Leonor wrote action pictures in the eighties and is now an old woman who cannot pay the electricity bill and still carries grief for a son lost years ago. A television falling on her head puts her in a coma, and she wakes inside the screenplay she abandoned long ago, playing the hero. From there the film moves between three planes: the reality of the hospital, the action world inside the script, and the zones where they mix. Escobar references Filipino action cinema of the eighties and imitates its excess with affection. It is built on grief, cinema and what telling stories is for. It won a special jury award at Sundance. Who it's for: viewers who like meta-narrative and games with genre. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a consistent plane of reality and a clear plot.