WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The agency of fixation. Once we latch onto that which is inescapable in our minds, what continues to resound within permeates to the very core of our being, manifesting into a potential series of obsessions that threaten our very sanity if left unchecked. In view of this, do we voluntarily allow these elements to control all we do or don’t do? Or, can we find a way to master them before it’s too late to alter the path they’ve pointed us to? Paula finds herself inexorably drawn into images that are derived from her past, when she felt as a child a woman had cast “the evil eye” upon her. As Paula grew up, a compulsive need to dive deeper into the meanings of what she feels, then transforming the experience into something identified with movie scenes. It all culminates into that one universal question–what is real?
Next, my Mind:
In a previous review, I had commented how indie filmmakers are often highly forthright and unreserved when it comes to expressing their own minds or the perceived minds of the characters they create in the context of the films produced. Even with a different overall focus, this 13-minute documentary short from writer/director/producer Maria Paul Diaz greatly reminds me of another of BIEFF’s offerings, “Elena Universo” in that it is such a deeply personal portrait of the filmmaker themselves, willing to put her emotional vulnerability out there for consideration, which most certainly fits with it screening at the 2nd Annual 2019 Berlin Illambra Experimental Film Festival housed at Salon AM Moritzplatz and hosted by Illambra.
This film, however, entreats the viewer to a much more eerie, haunting series of imagery that bring about a visceral portrait of what appears to be the unsettled nature of one woman’s skewed state of being stemming from a childhood experience that has more than left a mark on who she is. It is quite literally a life impacted by a single glance and the ramifications that have rippled outward from it since, creating an almost ungovernable separation from what is tangibly real. Diaz’s specialty lies specifically with Lacanian psychology and its analytical facets that, in its infancy, centered on ponderings of image, identity, and unconscious fantasy which, at least in this critic’s opinion, is the core of Diaz’s self-narrative being presented here. It illustrates what happens to a fractured mind that delves and resides in what is unreal to protect itself from the troubles in reality.
This is not the easiest film to witness when understanding that in whatever depth Diaz has chosen to, we’re really seeing someone’s struggle in vivid detail. Yet, perhaps that is the ultimate point to be taken from this, a cautionary tale about the all-too-real effects of trauma on the human mind if not dealt with quickly, allowing it to take root rather than be squashed soon after its cause has been ascertained. This is not at all to belittle what Diaz is revealing here, as film is such a powerful medium to get across necessary messages and evoke a reaction from viewers. In this contemporary age where mental health is coming to the forefront of awareness more and more through stories like this, we need filmmakers who aren’t afraid to put it out there in the most blunt, forceful, evocative ways in order that we can be reminded of the importance of finding new ways to aid those afflicted with mental upheaval.
I give full credit to Diaz, especially knowing her expertise in psychology in the forms she does, that recovering from the ghosts of the past, while not a pleasant or undemanding road to travel, is more than possible. At least that’s the impression I get from her willingness to share this indelible piece of her own life with us. So, in total, and honestly hoping this has captured the crux of Diaz’s intentions, “Mal De Ojo” is a lesson in brave filmmaking and needed messages that I hope is given a chance to shine and have the influence it should, not just as art, but as a statement of our times and the fragility of being human.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
Thank you for your interesting analysis of Evil Eye! The experience of watching a movie is, for me, to be glimpsed / touched / trapped by those images, in the same way that look made me Evil Eye!
The act of looking and being looked at and the question of reality and the original in oneself is what led me to compose this divaneo. Maybe we are always a drill and you have to create from there!
Thank you!