Review of Magical Girl (2014) by Mikael K — 14 Dec 2015

I love film noir. It is often perceived as a somewhat clichéd and old fashioned genre but I take it seriously, and damn do I love the admittedly outdated angle of psychoanalysis in character construction. So I guess it's no wonder I think "Magical Girl" might be the best film I've seen this year.

The plot of Carlos Vermut's sophomore effort is in fact film noir goofy, but it's not at all about the plausibility, it's about structure, character psychology and strong storytelling. The movie holds a shocking, thought-provoking twist after another, and it cuts through your defenses like a razor.

In Vermut's film noir land of contemporary, recession crippled Spain lives an easily recognizable femme fatale. But this time she isn't a mysterious antagonist but the most central, deeply explored character of the whole piece. "Magical Girl" shows us what happens off screen in film noir, what the femme fatale goes through as she constructs her deceptive plan. Our femme is Barbara (Barbara Lennie), a mentally unstable housewife whose madness frightens and enchants us from the first frame. Barbara lives in a big fancy apartment, in seclusion while her apparently overbearing partner spends long days at work as a psychiatrist.

Our everyman is Luis (Luis Bermejo) an unemployed middle-aged man who would do anything for his dying daughter Alicia (Lucia Pollan), soon to turn thirteen. Alicia loves Japanese Anime, and wants an incredibly expensive cosplay outfit of "Magical Girl Yukiko" for her birthday. As said, Luis would do anything for Alicia. Anything.

A chance encounter between Barbara and Luis sets up a wildly tragic succession of events that rips both characters wide open. Their shared madness connecting their antagonistic poles, their differently miserable worlds collide. The process is depicted through incredibly intense scenes that hypnotize you with their beauty yet damage you, so powerful they are. One could maybe see it all as a very, VERY dark comedy, but the experience is so potent you are not allowed to distance yourself by laughter. The absurdity of the plot actually makes this claustrophobic fable of a movie even more disturbing.