Atlantics

If, like me, you enjoy the likes of José Saramago, Isabel Allende, and Gabriel García Márquez you are going to instantly LOVE this film. But even if you're not a fan of the genre, it will only take a tiny step of surrender to the mesmerizing sound of the ocean (almost constantly in the background, when not in the foreground of the story) for you to be completely transported.

The core components of the story are universal; primordial even: young love, separation, injustice and punishment.

This is just as much a love story as it is a story about standing one's ground and restoring moral justice. It's just as much deeply personal as it is social. For Ada, the protagonist, a young woman separated from her first love and forced into an arranged marriage, it's a matter of coming-of-age and finding her voice. For the community, it's a matter of being faced with the consequences of social injustice and a rotten system.

Both visually and in terms of storytelling, the balance between realism and the magical/supernatural element is perfect. So is the balance between the macroscopic (the vast ocean, the expansive urban landscape dominated by a giant ominous tower, the community at large) and the microscopic (the small objects that play a central role in the story - a locket, a phone, a pair of handcuffs - and the inner struggles of the protagonists - Ada, Souleiman, the detective).

The result is poetic and haunting and cathartic in the end.