Nina (Aina Picarolo) was 16 years old when she left her small town without explaining herself to anyone, pursuing her dream of becoming an actress. There's an interaction of the young girl with the mature man, it is based on the admiration she has for him, but which becomes distorted as the connection between them increase. 30 years later, Nina (Patricia López Arnaiz) returns to the village for the first time with only one objective: to die killing. She has one goal in mind: to get revenge on the person who once ruined her life. A goal that puts Pedro (Darío Grandinetti) in the girl's sights, he's a famous writer to whom the town now pays homage by naming him town crier. However, the reunion with her place of origin and the interaction with her old friend Blas (Iñigo Aranburu), who personifies the only happy memories she has left, will make her reconsider her vengeance.
An introspective dramatic thriller, in which the viewer will be able to experience first-hand this journey towards female empowerment that the protagonist goes through. Based on the play of the same name by José Ramón Fernández and inspired at the same time by Chekhov's Seagull. In her second feature film, Andrea Jurriaeta (Ana de Dia) portrays a lonely woman thirsty for revenge, played by Pilar López Arnaiz ("2000 especies de abejas"), that makes palpable the moral complexity of this journey towards her becoming a 'femme fatale', she returns to her hometown, from which she fled some time ago, to settle accounts with the man who destroyed her life. Along with the real starring Pilar López giving fine acting, apperars her contender well interpreted by Dario Grandinetti (Hierro, Relatos salvajes).
The story creates a cross between genres between the revenge thriller, French neo-noir cinema and the neo-western, drawing on various influences. The desire for vendetta, the recognition of guilt, female empowerment, the abuse of superiority of an older man and a teenager, as well as the complicit silence of a town are the keys to this film in which the director plays with double editing, mixing a past based on flashbacks and the present in which our protagonist seeks an eager revenge. The staging packs tension enough, exacerbated by a pulsing edition, as it comes to generate intrigue, and in which the hunter becomes prey.
Deploying a peculiar visual and aesthetic composition. A composition that is structured around close-ups that invite the viewer to take part in this story that is presented in a suspenseful way, enhancing the mystery about the identity and past of this woman who takes over the screen from the first sequences. Sequences whose pale and gloomy photography was competently handled by cameraman Juli Carné Martorell , being shot on location in the coast of Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain. Adding a thrilling and tense soundtrack by Zeltia Montes (El buen Patrón) that at times takes on a dramatic level that the images are not able to follow.
For all this, Nina is the best production to date by Andrea Jaurrieta as a director, building a film capable of speaking without saying a word, intelligently applying the most aesthetically striking elements of other film genres. Andrea Jaurrieta (Spain, 1986) is a Goya-nominated writer and director. Her debut feature film, 'Ana de día' (Ana by Day) stars Ingrid García Jonsson , which she also produced, participated in over 30 international festivals such as Málaga or Bafici, winning 12 awards, which culminated with her nomination for Best New Director at the 33rd Goya Awards (Spanish Film Academy Awards) as well as at the CEC Medals (Spanish Cinema Writers Association). In addition to having been Director's trainee in Pedro Almodóvar's 'Julieta', her short films have screened at international festivals and her video installations have been exhibited in artistic institutions globally. Rating: 5.5/10.
