Lucía Bernal’s short film Sayani is an absolutely gorgeous film, mysterious and patient; while it keeps its cards close to its chest, it leaves you deep in thought and remains a beautiful intimate viewing.
In a mysterious, unknowable place, extraterrestrial beings guide a lost pilot to her destiny.
The cinematography at play here is almost gentle, echoing the pace of the film; it never rushes; we have an abundance of lingering shots of our lead that help show us how utterly lost she is in this unknown place. The camera mostly stays static until the last shot, which is a strong touch. It is a very restrained and grounded feel that allows the mystery of what you are seeing to take over you, to the point you are leaning that bit further forward than you would expect.
There is a classic feel to this cinematography from Valentin Alvarez Sabouret that pushes you away from thinking it is actually a genre film. All of these intelligent little filmmaking touches show you how strong a grasp Bernal and Sabouret have on their craft and the sheer amount of confidence instilled within them to pull it off with ease.
Visual effects are used carefully and, in truth, rather perfectly here in Sayani. Bernal knows not to overwhelm her audience with the effects, so instead, we just see some alterations to the colour of the sky etc. It enhances the story she is trying to tell us and helps keep us grounded in the mystery her character finds herself in.
What strikes you most is how Bernal has little interest in explaining the situation to you in Sayani. We, almost like her protagonist, have just been plucked into this place, this moment, and we are to make our own minds up about what we are seeing. We have to work it out for ourselves, and slowly, the film drip feeds us little parcels of information to feed off of. For the most part, all we know is that she has lost someone close to her. Whether it is a person or considering the sparseness of her world at present everyone, she is truly lost.
Sayani is an engrossing short film from a filmmaker and filmmaking team in Bercine who, if this work is anything to go by, have an outstanding career in front of them. I, for one, am excited about what they conjure up next.
★★★★
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 20th through August 9th.
For more of our coverage of Fantasia 2023, please see below:
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