Amazing Elisa – Movie Review [Fantastic Fest] (3/5)

AMAZING ELISA (org. title Asombrosa Elisa) is a new Spanish movie that just had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2022. It’s a mystery and thriller with some elements of comic book fantasy. Read our full Amazing Elisa movie review here!

AMAZING ELISA is a new genre-hybrid from Spain (org. title Asombrosa Elisa) with a small cast and several very uncomfortable scenes. I mean that in the sense that when you expect the camera to cut away, it stays on whatever event is unfolding.

This has to do with both sexual encounters (not rape) and just strange behavior. A young girl, Elisa, has lost her mother in a tragic accident. Following this traumatizing event, she is certain that she is now a superhero. Yes, the plot is that simple and yet the movie is actually very complex in many ways.

Continue reading our Amazing Elisa movie review below.

Elisa is one part of the puzzle

While this new Spanish genre-hybrid of a movie is titled Amazing Elisa, the young girl is just one part of the puzzle. The plot plays out as we watch a few different people.

Elisa is one of them, but there are a few others. One is a woman in a wheelchair, Úrsula (Silvia Abascal), who is fairly new to being wheelchair-bound. While this is an adjustment period, the main issue is that her husband seems to pull away from her. Well, physically anyway, because he is still very much in love with his wife.

Another key character is someone who is very reminiscent of the superhero, Elisa reads about in her comics. Her name is “Amazing Beatriz” and yes, Elisa is clearly thinking that she is now as powerful as the comic book hero, she reads about. Perfect for wanting justice and vengeance in an unjust world.

Heartbreaking in many ways!

For me, Amazing Elisa works the best when we focus on either Elisa and her father or Úrsula and her husband. Elisa’s dad is clearly trying his best to do right by his daughter. She is heartbroken, having lost her mother, just as he has lost his wife.

However, this pain is clearly overshadowed by having a young daughter who believes she has superpowers. Imagine having a pre-teen daughter, who is hurting and angry and believes she’s invulnerable. And yes, she does test out this theory (in the opening scene).

While the father wants to support his daughter, he also needs to protect her. The dad is portrayed wonderfully by Ivan Massagué from the awesome The Platform and the young Elisa is played by newcomer Jana San Antonio, who gives a solid performance.

DO CHECK OUT

The Platform (org. title El hoyo) starring one of the main actors from Amazing Elisa >

Ultimately, the characters will come to discover that their lives are connected. Is it by something real or perhaps more of a comic book intervention? Maybe a bit of both?! Watch it and decide for yourself.

Amazing Elisa screened at Fantastic Fest 2022

Sadrac González-Perellón is the writer and director of Amazing Elisa (org. title Asombrosa Elisa). Before making this movie, Sadrac González-Perellón wrote and directed the horror sci-fi movie Black Hollow Cage (2017) and the “Kill Santa” segment of the horror-comedy anthology Deathcember (2019).

Amazing Elisa is definitely also a genre film, but saying exactly which genres is a bit more tricky. On IMDb, it’s currently listed as a drama, but this is definitely not doing it justice. I mean, there’s a reason why this premiered at Fantastic Fest.

Having just premiered at Fantastic Fest 2022, Amazing Elisa will be screening at Sitges Film Festival in October 2022. Since the film was shot in Barcelona, Spain, it makes sense that it would get its Spanish premiere there.

To me, there is one part of the story that doesn’t work as well as the rest. Many scenes with the real-life “Amazing Beatriz” are awesome, but there’s at least one that I could’ve done without. To me, it confuses more than it helps the story.

However, the part where Elisa and her father meet Úrsula and her husband, Héctor (Asier Etxeandia), is a powerful scene. 

Amazing Elisa had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2022 where we caught it.

Details

Director: Sadrac González-Perellón
Writer: Sadrac González-Perellón
Stars: Asier Etxeandia, Ivan Massagué, Silvia Abascal, Claudia Bouza, Milo Taboada