La Antena Review

La Antena
A brilliant drama set in a dystopian society ruled over by a brutal dictator known as Mr TV

by Kat Brown |
Published on
Release Date:

16 May 2008

Running Time:

90 minutes

Certificate:

TBC

Original Title:

La Antena

Dark, cartoonish and beautifully shot in black and white, Argentinian writer/director Sapir's surreal homage to silent film noir is the best surprise to come out of Spanish language cinema since Pan's Labyrinth. In a Fritz Lang landscape, brutal dictator Mr TV has stolen the voices of his city and forces them to eat his brand of TV food. One singer and her strangely disfigured son keep their voices - used to lovely effect in a few rare songs - but when she is kidnapped, a TV repairman heads to the city's last-known aerial (the titular antenna) to thwart Mr TV and restore the city to normal. Assured and imaginative, Sapir has the same comic lightness of touch and imaginative brilliance as Tim Burton, with Leo Sujatovich's superb score underlining every moment perfectly. Not bad for someone whose last directorial job was directing Shakira. Unmissable.

In a word: Unmissable
Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us