This is an intimate rural thriller that invites a non-judgmental viewer to accompany the young protagonists on this journey towards awareness of the consequences that their actions can have, which may eventually be devastating. As Neves is a mountain village where everyone knows each other. The village completely snowed in by a snowstorm. The night of the Carnival, the teenagers of the village throw a party where they get high on mushrooms for the first time. A group of teenagers celebrate a party on carnival night, the next day, they wake up to the terrible news that one of the girls has disappeared. She's called Paula, and she went to the party the previous night. The village is getting cut off, the Internet is no longer working and it is urgent to find her. The investigation following Paula's case will cause a deep change in the villagers' lives and their relationship with the world.
The film is passable, but not very interesting to say the least, there is a slight intrigue but I don't know if it can be classified as a thriller, since there is hardly any suspense or action. Resulting to be an innocuous drama more than a thriller in which the use of medium shot filming to describe the action places the viewer in a contemplative position, avoiding that moral judgment that would be easy to enter into due to the nature of the story that is presented to us. Shots that alternate with others of a broader and more descriptive nature, and that allow us to capture the dullness of rural life in which these technologically overexposed young people live, with continuous use of mobile phones, computers and other modern means of interrelating.
Using a briefly intriguing script in which every detail counts - just like in the investigative work to find the girl - and in which each and every one of the situations described to us give a glimpse of the life of teenagers, who despite living in an isolated place, their customs are not very different from those of the city, that is, their hobbies for getting drunk, 'el botellón', talking about girls, continuous communications by Whasapp and the Internet. As Neves is conceived as a not very fruitful attempt to accompany, but not judge, the protagonists of this story on their personal journey in which idleness, irresponsibility, and a sense of guilt are mixed.
We observe the relationships of teenagers, both male and female, played by an unknown casting who give natural performances and we realize that they are not very satisfactory, to say the least, constantly talking about sex, or practicing, conversations full of swear words and vulgarities, looking at sexual relations on the Internet, getting drunk, and even taking drugs (in this case hallucinogenic mushrooms), and it seems that they are all minors, not setting a good example for themselves. But even a father is not a good example, in fact, one of the parents only has a few sentences to use for swearing and blasphemy. I understand that this is not well reflected in the film, because if they are like this, or these are the thoughts that 15-year-old children have today, the future could be bad. I don't think that this type of completely sexualized behavior governs the relationships of these children. That' why the best thing about the film is that it lasts a short time, only 83 minutes.
In As Neves (2024) stands out the colorful cinematography by Deirdre Canle and Lucía C. Pan, shot on snowy and cold northern places such as A Fonsagrada, Lugo, Galicia. The film was professionally directed by Sonia Méndez , although a little more intrigue and tension is missing. She's an actress, writer and director. This one is her second movie, her film debut was the documentary 'A poeta analfabeta' (2020). 'As Neves' achieved some nominations:: 2024 Nominee Golden Biznaga Best Spanish Film : Sonia Méndez and San Sebastián International Film Festival 2024 Nominee Dunia Ayaso Award: Sonia Méndez. Rating: 5/10. Average but passable.
