Oliver Laxe directs Sergi López, Bruno Núñez Arjona and Stefania Gadda in this existential European thriller where a father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his missing daughter in the deserts of North Africa.

I don’t have much prejudice in my heart but the idea of spending two hours (or the final days) with a bunch of raving nomadic crusties would lead me to bite down on the gun. Could not stand to live in this world. The first hour is full of Hitchcockian distrust. We cross the desert looking for the next rave and hopefully our missing loved one. An uneasy alliance forms with the caravan of sun ruined hedonists and excitement happens… often to a pulsating EDM beat. Beautiful Moroccan landscapes, overwhelming noise, threat constantly at the peripheries. There is a political backdrop that we are all unconscious refugees as WWIII breaks out beyond the horizon. Then there are two MASSIVE shocks. The movie ends less as a mystery, or an adventure, more as a modern day Buñuel flick. Sirât completely took me for a white knuckle ride and I loved that it did.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Climax (2019)