Solo la luna comprenderá, by Costa Rican director Kim Torres, stands out for its creative weaving of temporalities, crafting a tapestry of memory through narrative and stylistic elements. The film reimagines mise-en-scène as a tool to reveal enigma and mystery. Arising from the challenge of capturing fleeting, intense moments, the film develops in a fabe-like atmosphere, relying on gaps and incompleteness, and on fragments of an almost story: in cutouts and windows, in the interplay between light and shadow that fills each shot like a game of hide-and-seek, emphasizing a temporal relationship shaped by the nature of this play, imbued with purpose and the pulse of life. It captures insignificant details of everyday life and the influence of the supernatural forces, embodying what is both eternal and ever-changing.
Through the children’s hazy recollections and imaginative perspectives — driven by a desire to leave and experience all the world has to offer, yet accompanied by a longing to remain deeply rooted in a past filled with affection — the film paints a vivid picture of what it might be like to grow up in Manzanillo, Costa Rica. The work delves into beach games and the endless wanderings through the village’s hidden corners, with the immersive, subjective, and purposefully imprecise camera — following everything closely and capturing the intensity of a moment witnessed only by the full moon. Incorporating experimental elements, Solo la luna comprenderá breaks away from traditional narrative structures, offering viewers a rich and transcendent cinematic experience.
Alessandra Brito, Gilson Plano, Pedro Vaz Peres
