Magical Girl

Alicia has leukaemia and wants one thing: the costume from a Japanese anime. Her unemployed father Luis has to find the money for it, and the route he finds leads him to Bárbara, whom he meets by chance. Bárbara has a past of her own and something never spoken about with her former teacher Damián. When the three lives touch, a chain of blackmail appears and everyone uses someone else's desperation. Carlos Vermut explains nothing; the most important scenes are not shown on screen and the audience works backward from their consequences. It won both best film and best director at San Sebastián. The film is cold, distant and defends nobody. Who it is for: viewers who like Spanish noir and work built on narrative gaps. Who it is not for: anyone who dislikes guessing at what is withheld.