Although its “WTF” category was nearly as expansive as ever, this year’s truncated SIFF only featured three actual “playing-at-midnight” midnighters. Jenn takes a look at what worked and what didn’t.
Piggy (2022 | Spain | 90 minutes | Carlota Pereda)
An overweight young woman named Sara (Laura Galán) is constantly bullied in her small town in Spain, the kind of village where everyone knows one another and no secrets stay hidden for long. Then one day, while Sara attempts to swim in solitude at the local pool but instead finds herself once again abused pretty brutally by her classmates, a handsome stranger appears and stands up for her. (This scene actually made its debut in a short of the same title in SIFF 2018’s “WTF” shorts block.) She’s so grateful that he immediately wins her loyalty, even when that entails looking the other way when those bullies start to go missing, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Writer/director Carlota Pereda gives even tertiary characters some wonderfully fine touches, drawing out a cute little laugh from one line of revealing dialogue between policemen and giving some subtle visual underscoring to a couple of physical traits so that characters remain recognizable even as they’re morgue-bound. These townsfolk all feel remarkably real and well-developed – and worth caring about – for such a tight ninety-minute thriller, which at times is as much about Sara’s pained relationship with her parents as it is a showcase for her revenge on her tormenters. She’s a deeply sympathetic character, especially to someone like me who also lives in a body very similar to hers. There’s also a palpable romantic tension between our heroine and her dark and mysterious defender, reminiscent of the similar relationship at the heart of the SIFF 2018 feature Beast – this one manages to get just transgressive enough as to feel a bit squirmy without losing the audience’s goodwill toward Sara, as she takes on increasing agency for herself and discovers what level of guilt she can actually live with in order to achieve her self-actualization. Good for you, Sara.
Cop Secret (2021 | Iceland | 98 minutes | Hannes Thór Halldórsson)
First-time feature filmmaker Hannes Thór Halldórsson’s queer buddy-cop parody pulls no punches. When a strait-laced, by-the-books detective and a beat-of-his-own-drum style rogue cop are forced to team up, hijinx (and also steamy hookups) ensue. The whole thing is extremely silly, a wall-to-wall homage to/send-up of action-movie tropes. It’s so gonzo and into itself it almost reminded me of an Icelandic take on the Ugandan “Wakaliwood” collective’s goofily inventive works, like Bad Black (SIFF 2017).
Hatching (2022 | Finland | 86 minutes | Hanna Bergholm)
A tween girl in Finland discovers a mysterious egg in the woods, and decides to take it inside and see what happens. I wish the trailer hadn’t given so much of this film’s secrets away – go in as blind as possible, because the slow unfolding can be a lot of fun. As a clear metaphor for puberty, the story works perfectly, and as a surprisingly unique and original horror film it fares nearly as well.
Hatching is currently in wider theatrical release, including playing at SIFF’s Egyptian for the next week or so. Keep an eye out for future news on Piggy (featured image above, with US distribution by Magnolia Pictures) and Cop Secret which will be released by Epic Pictures.
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