Tierra

Julio Medem's 'Tierra' has that same feel of surrealism, poetry and magic that his other works, namely 'Vacas', 'Los Amantes del Circulo Polar', 'La Ardilla Roja'. His films are a genre of their own. Medem has penned a solid screenplay and done a fine job of showing it on screen. He often works on a broad campus.

The visuals are very simple yet the way Medem and his cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe capture them makes them look extraordinary. The film is set in a remote Spanish countryside surrounded by simple earthy brown landscape. Yet the moving images beautifully capture the richness of texture, mood, emotion, sound, symbolism and dialogue. Alberto Iglesias's score is equally spellbinding. Carmelo Gómez, Emma Suárez, Karra Elejalde, Silke and Nancho Novo are in top form. Gómez does one of his best works here.

I'll refrain from mentioning anything about the story because, like most of Medem's films, this one is more worthy experiencing rather than just hearing.