Virgen de la Tosquera: desire will tear you apart

The 2001 economic and social meltdown in Argentina has been extensively depicted in local cinema. Pioneering films of the so-called New Argentine Cinema that renovated the country’s cinematic storytelling — like Pablo Trapero’s Crane World and Adrian Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro’s Pizza, Beer & Cigarettes — tapped into the frayed social fabric of the time, marked by unemployment, collective malaise and crime.  Yet so far, no Argentine film had transmitted that social angst like Laura Casabé’s Virgen de la Tosquera (Virgin of the Quarry Lake; 93 minutes), a coming-of-age horror tale based on two short stories from renowned author Mariana Enriquez’s book, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed — Our Lady of the Quarry Lake and The Cart.  Like an atmospheric, dark version of John Carpenter’s Carrie set in the Buenos Aires suburbs, Casabé’s film, which premiered in the Sundance film festival last year, refracts adolescent desire through the lens of Argentina’s broken-down society. Set amid the sweltering summer of 2001 in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the story revolves around 18-year-old Natalia (played by Dolores Oliveiro, who delivers a stunningly solid performance in her film debut) and her two closest friends Mariela (Candela Flores) and Josefina (Isabel Bracamonte), all enthralled by the magnetic yet elusive heartthrob Diego (Agustín Sosa). Natalia has always had the most chemistry with Diego, but when it seems inevitable that their friendship will turn into something more, the older, better-traveled Silvia enters their orbit. Played by Mexican actress Fernanda Echevarría (who hits the exact right tones on her character’s bravado and the tension with Natalia) Silvia captures Diego’s attention and ignites Natalia’s jealousy, which gradually ripens into something darker, primal, and bordering supernatural.The script by Benjamin Naishtat (Rojo, Puán) quickly interweaves Natalia’s dark teenage drama with a violent episode that happens right in front of her home. A homeless man who seems to be drunk stumbles in with a supermarket cart full of dirty stuff, terrorizing the block, and infuriating her neighbors.   Lynch-esque decay When the man is beaten and chased off, his filthy cart, dripping with blood, is left behind, and the David Lynch-esque rotting of its contents sets the pace for the slow deterioration of Natalia’s own shreds of a family: her witch-like grandmother (played by Spanish actress Luisa Merelas) and her sleepover lover (Dady Brieva), and a devilish yet helpless young boy from next door who moves in with them when his mother is hospitalized.  The precarious backdrop of the neighborhood, afflicted by blackouts and water shortages, provides both social context and an overall sense of abandonment, a helplessness that is also a melting pot for the girls’ sexual awakening. Casabé’s camera makes the most of her lead actress’s profound, hypnotic eyes to show Natalia slowly becoming less of a heroine and more of an unsympathetic force of nature, willing to do anything to get Diego’s attention back. And in Enriquez’s world that includes, of course, summoning dark, otherworldly powers.  The director’s teenage coven-like trio serves thus as the object and the drive of a richly textured and haunting film that is less about jump scares and more about the horror embedded in desire, competition and rupture. In the crossroads of Casabé’s and Enriquez’s universes, it is ultimately that unseen malevolent power — and not love — that can tear you apart.