La Valija de Benavidez (2016)

	Also Known As: Benavidez's Case
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Laura Casabe
	Actors: Norma Aleandro, Paula Brasca, Valentín Javier Diment
	Country: RA, MEX
	Genre: Drama, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 30.05.2017, Cine Santander Cultural, FANTASPOA2017
Synopsis: Pablo Benavidez is an artist living in the shadow of a more talented departed father. After leaving his girlfriend he imposes on his doctor for a night, and will end up staying longer in a residence designed for artists like him.
Review: I missed this movie at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Festival in 2016 because it was shown without sub-titles and I didn't trust my Spanish enough. This time I decided to go anyway and got lucky that there were English sub-titles so I could do more than vaguely follow the main topic. I found the story original and refreshing, and the movie good-looking and well-done, almost a surprise for me coming from a country whose production I am not familiar with. The atmosphere is quite bizarre, especially when the psychiatrist goes through the videos of the sessions he had with Benavidez and puts him in situations that reproduce his life traumas in order to push him to create. That is in fact the main topic of the movie and the reflexion present at every stage until the finale. As serious shot at the genre from Argentina by a female director for whom it is the second full-length feature. Unfortunately I found many situations to be out of place, like the doctor handling multimedia screens to execute his master plan. I didn't like the design of those scenes.
Rating: 5 /10