On the eighth day of the Sitges Festival we saw Fuerza Bruta: Punishment by Heo Myeong-haeng, Dead Mail by Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy and The Killers by Roh Deok, Kim Jong-kwan, Chang Hang-jun, Lee Myung-se

The festival started a week ago and is already starting to show that the end is near, but the pace of the films does not slow down and today three films were screened, two of which belong to the nines visions section, so it is a day that promises to discover new directors.

But first, one of the films most loved by Festival participants was screened, a film with Dong Lee. Continuing last year’s tradition with the third episode of Brute force, The fourth chapter of the saga was presented at the Sitges 2024 Festival, Punishment. From the beginning it was a film that should have received a great reception from the public, but What I didn’t expect was the great welcome from Dong Lee, the applause was even higher than that of Nic Cage and the best thing is that all the pies and punches that the Korean actor gave were applauded.

Brute force: punishment It does not propose anything new, after all it is an already consolidated saga that marks a series of characteristics and concepts that have been refined and exaggerated even more with each new episode. In this episode our beloved protagonist will have to face a cybernetic organization and become familiar with the new concepts of the digital world. So Heo Myeong-haeng, the director of this episode, makes a good impression on us portion of cakes and hilarious jokes on the generational range. Coffee, for lovers of coffee, Korean cakes and above all Dong Lee and his enormous charisma.

It was time to pop into the Tramuntana room to see one of the new American sensations presented at Noves Visions, Dead mail. A film based on true events about the kidnapping of a person who manages to send a letter for help. And that’s it Dead mail It’s very nice when he tells new things and plays with elements never seen before like Jasper’s work. investigating the letter, an interesting plot that has the potential to develop throughout the duration, but ends up being cut due to narrative choices.

I mean, the film is really good when there are new things, in its presentation and in its outcome, but The problem comes when you have to compile the entire development and you don’t know how to do it, so you end up making the decision to tell almost the same thing.but from a new point of view that ends up not contributing as much to the story and ends up taking longer than it should due to the need to meet a time quota.

Anyway, Dead mail It has several very positive points, John Fleck’s performance as Trent is one of the best roles I saw at the Festival and the rest of the cast has enough presence to be characteristic, as in the case of Ann (Micki Jackson) or Jasper (Tomas Boykin). Another great point is the cinematography which transports us to the time of the film as already happened with Those who remain and the use of grain and a less widescreen format reminiscent of 1970s films.

We finally returned to Tramuntana to see The assassins, a Korean film composed of four stories by different directors, but with the central idea of ​​hitmen and mafias and each chapter provides a different vision ranging from horror to suspense or black comedy. The directors of the first two parts attended the screening and had a great time introducing the film and highlighting the key points that could be highlighted in the film.

Each story offers new ideas and they also play with formats and visual imprint, differentiating themselves very well from each other based on the framing and theme. For example, The first was about vampires, the second about a kidnapping gone wrong, the third about the search for a serial killer and the fourth I really couldn’t define. because it was a very strange experience playing with formats and space-time, but completely mixing everything from silent films to reversed scenes and very strange things.

The idea is interesting because it shows each director’s vision and it’s also fun to see the risks everyone takes when playing with other subgenres or themes. and the funniest could be the second which focuses on the comedy of the plots and misunderstandings during the attempted kidnapping and murder of a professor and it all ends with a sort of interrupted telephone assignment between three very nice friends.

The fourth short film might be the one that stands out the most for its visual impact, but maybe I’ve seen 25 films and my head no longer works as it should, but I couldn’t get into the plot and minimally understand part of what he was saying. And the first and third are the most solid in both cinematography and screenplay, offering very solid stories, but they don’t even propose a big change in the genre, they simply try to have fun by playing a little with the genre and those mixtures they create. Do.