The Blazing World

I kinda dig this one. Creepy horror fantasy about a young woman who's still haunted by the incident of the accidental drowning of her twin sister long time ago. She becomes self destructive and she doesn't seem to have a good relationship with her parents. One day she returns to her parents' home to help with their moving, but she finds herself drawn to another dimension where she thinks her sister may still be alive. This is Carlson Young's first role as a writer/director and she definitely crafted something really interesting here. An exploration of unresolved trauma through visuals. I admit that this film falls short in a few aspects but it also has a lot of things to admire and I can appreciate the ambition. It's very striking visually with nightmarish imaginary world, vivid imagery, and amazing lighting that keep me hooked. On top of that, the kooky score perfectly fits the picture and there are some fun references too. I'm interested in whatever she does next. Adding extra star for Udo Kier.

[Sitges FF] Lewis Carroll with aesthetics by Nicolas Winding Refn, exploring trauma through a psychoanalytic tale. It's beautiful the use of Tchaikovsky's "The nutcracker", which is also a tale of transformation that takes place in a magical kingdom. The intention to build a psychological representation through the images feels incomplete and poor, underusing rich elements such as the "white rabbit" Udo Kier.