Writer and Director: Paz Vega
The Glasgow Film Festival is well under way, offering indoor treats at the chilly scrag end of winter. There was a screening of Blackmailed (1951), a Dirk Bogarde vehicle, though shown in a super restored version as part of a retrospective honouring Swedish co-star Mai Zetterling. More melodrama than thriller, it’s the sort of watchable black-and-white fare you might expect to find on Talking Pictures TV, but it’s apparently not available except on a BFI funded national tour.
By contrast, Sew Torn (2024) is bang up to date and in colour, a fable set in a version of Switzerland where everyone inexplicably speaks English all the time, mostly in an American accent. The seamstress protagonist dreams up and enacts action stunts that are reliant upon reels of cotton thread. But the more interesting aspect of this film is its triple ‘Sliding Doors’ element – three versions of how she responds to discovering a drugs deal gone wrong. In its quirkiness, this makes a David Lynch movie look 100% rational.
And so to Rita, a lyrical Spanish film showing at the festival which offers a child’s eye view of a family living in denial about domestic abuse. The title character (Sofίa Allepuz) is the antithesis of her selfish, impatient, sweary father. In fact, she’s so selfless and thoughtful in all the choices she makes, plugging gaps in the care of her younger brother Lolo (Alejandro Escamilla), she comes across as wise beyond her seven years. The performances by the young children in this film are remarkable, bringing to mind Victor Erice’s masterpiece Spirit of the Beehive (1973).
The slow-spooling action is set in a working-class neighbourhood during a summer football tournament in the 1980s. It’s swelteringly hot, and Rita’s father Jose Manuel (Roberto Álamo), a taxi driver, has a protracted rant about his beer not being chilled. The scenes are shot and cut perfectly, the understated action always pulling towards some kind of hinted-at disaster.
The adult actors combine well to place the drama within the extended family and the local community. Rita’s mother Mari (Paz Vega) struggles with childcare, as played out in a scene at the bakery where her sister works. She tries to smooth over her husband’s aggressive tendencies and abusive comments, but they are slowly but surely getting worse. This is an impressive directorial debut by Vega, and it comes with all the content warnings you would expect with this theme.
Rita will have its UK Premiere at Glasgow Film Festival on Friday 7 March and is available on Digital Platforms 24 March.
