Director César Augusto Acevedo’s Horizonte assembles loss and guilt in both serene and unsettling arrangements, where abstraction and surrealism blend into a melancholy exhibition of redemption in this year’s TIFF Discovery entry.
Basilio (Claudio Catao) is tormented by everything around him. Everything culminates in a plague that becomes increasingly difficult to understand—a chaos, in fact. He hollers to his mother, ‘Let’s find somewhere far from the suffering.’ His mother frowns at him and asks, ‘Why didn’t you run from all this when it still had meaning?’ There’s a brief silence, but it pushes him to the brink of self-destruction. He then responds, ‘Because I couldn’t.’
This TIFF selection is incontestably unsettling, a core theme that maintains its hold throughout the entire film. We witness Basilio and his mother, Inés, two spirits who are actually dead from the Colombian war and incapable of moving on from the unanswered questions. The motive is for them to be able to find Basilio’s father. Surrounded by postwar destruction, they embark on a quest for salvation and a sense of closure that brings them peace of mind. Neither of them has it easy, and the director portrays every obstacle with unflinching clarity.
Director César Augusto Acevedo employs visual storytelling techniques to evoke the core of destruction that is undeniably surreal. There is an anchoring connection between the mother-son relationship and the precise specifics of the ruins, along with the severity of the postwar destruction as conveyed through the narration. It’s an indirect Tarkovsky inspiration at most, where imaginative depictions cater to a form of detachment, bringing lost memories to resurface. Basilio, being guilty of his actions, seems to be given a lesson plan through his voyage, which turns the table into a post-apocalyptic purgatory, switching his disturbing actions into an enthralling mind torture. It’s quite similar to Sam Mendes’s 1917, where we observe the never-ending path of suffering as the duration progresses, yet Harry Allouche’s score provides a comprehensive account of what may have transpired via its immaculate musical presentation. The mystical intervention of referencing the weather to symbolize loss, where misty, sunny, and cloudy atmospheres each bring different forms of guilt, is remarkably presented here. These elements serve as a foundation for the philosophies woven throughout the film, providing clues to the concept of karma, which posits that what goes around comes around. Actress Paulina García elevates the portrayal of remorse and shame to a higher level with her silent yet hypnotic weeping and intense gaze.
Horizonte is an artistic, avant-garde film that forms a dreamlike presentation of guilt, redemption, and loss through its surrealist visuals and ravishing images. Despite its transition between genres, Horizonte is an artistic form of poetry that provides answers to individuals experiencing extreme suffering, with both the sinners and the affected parties being the victims. At one point, the film depicts guilt similar to confession chambers in a church, a place where forgiveness is assured only when it is honest and expressed fully. However, César Augusto Acevedo’s vision remains intact—to portray hell on earth and structure loss on all horizons, whether tranquil or disastrous at the same time.
Horizonte is featured in the Discovery section of TIFF 2024, alongside titles such as Boong, Gülizar, Sad Jokes, Shook and The Courageous.
