Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE WAIT [Fantastic Fest 2023 - Austin, Texas]

The essence of legacy revels in the fact that life throws curveballs in many specific ways. In a simple human approach, the key is to try as best as you can even if the world is stacked against the rightful progression of good. In "The Wait" set in an arid ridge estate in Spain, Victor Clavijo plays Eladio, a man adminstrating hunting ground on an estate to give rich sportsmen the ability to take out bucks and does for both trophy and meat. He lives with his wife Marcia and his son. It is a hard life but one that he respects. He has given up drinking but the snares of backhanded loyalties and dealings are pushing against him making being the right man more difficult. Eladio is very stoic and a man of principle but he doesn't go around saying it. He teaches his boy to hunt and respects the way life should go along with the work necessitated by it. The way writer/director F.Javier Guitteriez focuses on Clavijo's face and that of his wife Marcia (Ruth Diaz) and how the sun has scorched their skin and their souls is very apparent and telling.

An accident happens, perfectly preventable and tragic, but it begins a series of occurrences that begin to unravel everything. There is something gnawing at this man though even before that. Life is alright but not quite what is needed (but this is true of many). One sequence which shifts the story into something purgatory-esque really brings to bear what Eladio is dealing with, replete with slaughter and transformation. It is just a matter if the darkness is in his head or something simply breaks. The politics are not overwhelming in this arena but they do act like a vice. A world is crumbling. The film, in this way, is a slow burn. It keeps returning to the imagery of a pond ironically set against Clavijo's house on an arid landscape which plays directly into an action later in the story. Considering what Eladio goes through, it is hard to predict what he might have done different within a state of logic versus a state of rage.

However the intention or allusion that the land takes its own is an interesting metaphorical structure though not quite connected to what happens in the 2nd half of the film. The key to a film which starts to introduce details as part of a puzzle is that there needs to be a rule based structure that would culimate in more of a set fate or at least a broad reasoning of effect. The notion of 3 is an effective connotation that is repeated as different elements come to Eladio's attention. Much of this might be in his mind allowing his pscyhe to deal with the shock of what his life has become that he possibily cannot deal with. He may or may not seeing and/or allowing betrayal at every crossroad. However, these actions might very well be his reality but one that he not be able to survive or even reconcile no matter what he does. "The Wait" shows a man broken but still trying to stay above water despite everything including forces unknown focused on cracking him in two. B

By Tim Wassberg