In a year already filled with great, unique horror — “The Witch,” “Under The Shadow,” “Don’t Breathe,” “Green Room,” for example — there’s still another picture coming that’s ready to make your hairs stand on end. Nicolas Pesce‘s “The Eyes Of My Mother” has been earning no shortage of attention ever since it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January and now it’s coming to cinemas.
Starring Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Flora Diaz, Paul Nazak, Clara Wong, Diana Agostini, and Olivia Bond, revolves around a little girl, and a childhood incident that manifests itself in dark ways years later. Here’s the synopsis:
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters the idyll of Francisca’s family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Francisca’s loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a dark form. Shot in crisp black and white, the haunting visual compositions evoke its protagonist’s isolation and illuminate her deeply unbalanced worldview. Genre-inflected, but so strikingly unique as to defy categorization, writer/director Nicolas Pesce’s feature debut allows only an elliptical presence in Francisca’s world, guiding our imaginations to follow her into peculiar, secret places.
“The Eyes Of My Mother” screens next at Fantastic Fest and opens on in theaters and on iTunes on December 2nd.
