DIRECTOR: VALENTINA MAUREL
STARRING: DANIELA MARIN NAVARRO, REINALDO AMIEN GUTIERREZ, VIVIAN RODRIGUEZ BARQUERO
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 42 MINUTES
Eva, a 16 year old girl, lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but she wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him, she tries to balance between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life.
STARRING: DANIELA MARIN NAVARRO, REINALDO AMIEN GUTIERREZ, VIVIAN RODRIGUEZ BARQUERO
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 42 MINUTES
Eva, a 16 year old girl, lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but she wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him, she tries to balance between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“I don’t want any violence in this house.”
I Have Electric Dreams is the International Feature submission for Costa Rica. The film follows Eva, a 16 year old girl, who’s desperate to leave her mother’s house, which she shares with her sister Sol. Her mother, Anca, is now dating again and renovating her house, after a large inheritance, and in the process she’s throwing away anything that reminds her of her ex-husband, Martin. Eva’s parents had an extremely violent, abusive and toxic relationship which ended in a divorce. Unfortunately, Eva is slowly beginning to repeat the same patterns as her dad, as she’s violent with her sister and she appears to be possessed by the same demons as her father.
Martin has been crashing at his best friend’s house since the divorce. Unable to afford a new place, he spends his time creating poems, sculptures and paintings, like a troubled creative artist. Eva has been sending her dad new apartment listings and often accompanies him as they look for a new home together. The only requirement for her is that it has to have two bedrooms, so that she can stay with him permanently one day. And while all of this is happening, Eva begins to experiment with smoking, drinking and sex. The atmosphere between these two individuals begins to become so inflammable that anything could ignite at any second.
There’s an unbearable sadness and loneliness to this family of four. They come back and forth in each other’s lives like a self-destructive waltz. Sol pees herself frequently when around her dad. Eva is physically and mentally abused by her father. Anca is extremely numb to everything that happened during her marriage. And Martin obviously needs psychological help, but seems to not be getting anything to induce his self rage. It’s a pack of wild animals who scream their love for one other, sometimes with physical blows. They know that they’re toxic when together, yet the vicious cycle of abuse continues as they can’t separate from one another.
I Have Electric Dreams showcase the addictive quality of toxic relationships and how many teenage girls fall prey to the neurotic cycle due to their dysfunctional environments. Eva is restless, angry, violent, confused, obsessed and capable of setting everything on fire. Despite the internal pain she’s experiencing, Eva moves through life pretending to already be an adult. She’s witnessed how Martin treated her mother and she believes this is how she should be treated as well. This is the bond that she has with her dad, and this is why her connection with him is so strong.
Like static, Eva and Martin crash into each other only to drift away before colliding again with one another, each confrontation more electric than before.
REVIEW: B+
(This review contains spoilers.)
“I don’t want any violence in this house.”
I Have Electric Dreams is the International Feature submission for Costa Rica. The film follows Eva, a 16 year old girl, who’s desperate to leave her mother’s house, which she shares with her sister Sol. Her mother, Anca, is now dating again and renovating her house, after a large inheritance, and in the process she’s throwing away anything that reminds her of her ex-husband, Martin. Eva’s parents had an extremely violent, abusive and toxic relationship which ended in a divorce. Unfortunately, Eva is slowly beginning to repeat the same patterns as her dad, as she’s violent with her sister and she appears to be possessed by the same demons as her father.
Martin has been crashing at his best friend’s house since the divorce. Unable to afford a new place, he spends his time creating poems, sculptures and paintings, like a troubled creative artist. Eva has been sending her dad new apartment listings and often accompanies him as they look for a new home together. The only requirement for her is that it has to have two bedrooms, so that she can stay with him permanently one day. And while all of this is happening, Eva begins to experiment with smoking, drinking and sex. The atmosphere between these two individuals begins to become so inflammable that anything could ignite at any second.
There’s an unbearable sadness and loneliness to this family of four. They come back and forth in each other’s lives like a self-destructive waltz. Sol pees herself frequently when around her dad. Eva is physically and mentally abused by her father. Anca is extremely numb to everything that happened during her marriage. And Martin obviously needs psychological help, but seems to not be getting anything to induce his self rage. It’s a pack of wild animals who scream their love for one other, sometimes with physical blows. They know that they’re toxic when together, yet the vicious cycle of abuse continues as they can’t separate from one another.
I Have Electric Dreams showcase the addictive quality of toxic relationships and how many teenage girls fall prey to the neurotic cycle due to their dysfunctional environments. Eva is restless, angry, violent, confused, obsessed and capable of setting everything on fire. Despite the internal pain she’s experiencing, Eva moves through life pretending to already be an adult. She’s witnessed how Martin treated her mother and she believes this is how she should be treated as well. This is the bond that she has with her dad, and this is why her connection with him is so strong.
Like static, Eva and Martin crash into each other only to drift away before colliding again with one another, each confrontation more electric than before.
REVIEW: B+
