Haunting and harsh 'The daughter'

I am always interested in the cinema made by Manuel Martín Cuenca. I never know what will happen in their stories, but I am assured of uneasiness while I see them and there are images that will last on my retina. It happens to me even with some that I didn't like, like

. And there are others that maintain the initial charm when I go back to review them. This is the case of

and

. The world of this director is dark, original, murky, nothing predictable. And he knows how to create atmosphere and mystery, disturb you, surprise you. Re-transmit those feelings to me in

, exhibited in the Official Section, but out of competition.

In other words, you will not have to compete with anyone.

Better for her.

He does not throw messages that are in grimy fashion.

The outcome is brutal and unexpected.

He entertains me during his footage and the excellent final part scares me.

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Martín Cuenca narrates the refuge offered by an educator from a juvenile center and his wife to a pregnant and problematic adolescent who will deliver the child to them when it is born. And we are angry witnesses of that coexistence in a lonely house, intuiting that these apparently civilized relationships are going to explode at some point with dire consequences. The plot has weather. It also has two credible and nuanced protagonists. They are Javier Gutiérrez (I know that work accumulates, which is everywhere, but it does not saturate you, it is that he does it very well and his records are extensive) and Patricia López Arnaiz, a powerful actress whom I discovered in

. And the anxiety and enigma that Martín Cuenca captures is grateful.

The Chinese

recounts the successive investigations of the police over the years to find a multiple murderer. And the French

describes the involvement of senior police officers in drug trafficking. These are themes that great American cinema is used to embroidering. Not the case with these two immediately forgettable movies.

The most visible thing that the tired Official Section is offering is Spanish cinema.

I was also interested in the French

, directed by Laurent Cantet.

But nothing here and nothing there, in the rest.

And I regret wasting so much time with the forced vision of the cinema in competition.

Especially since I don't have time to see films that initially attract me, because of the personality of their authors and that appear in other sections.

How lucky for those who can choose their agenda, see what they want, be on vacation at the festival.

I will have to wait for the commercial premiere of the cinema that I most want.