Screened as part of NZIFF 2013

Magic Magic 2013

Directed by Sebastián Silva

This Sundance hit features breakout star Juno Temple (Killer Joe) in an unnerving psychological mood piece from Chilean writer-director Sebastián Silva. “The movie itself is even crazier than its protagonist.” — Screendaily

Chile / USA In English
97 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Director, Screenplay

Producers

Frida Torresblanco
,
Christine Vachon
,
Mike White
,
David Bernad

Photography

Christopher Doyle
,
Glenn Kaplan

Editors

Alex Rodríguez
,
Jacob Craycroft

Production designer

Amparo Baeza

Costume designer

Mark Grattan

Sound

Rick Chefalas
,
Lawrence Zipf

Music

Saunder Jurriaans
,
Danny Bensi

With

Michael Cera (Brink)
,
Juno Temple (Alicia)
,
Emily Browning (Sarah)
,
Catalina Sandino Moreno (Barbara)
,
Agustín Silva (Agustín)

Festivals

Sundance, Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2013

Elsewhere

This unnerving Sundance hit features breakout star Juno Temple (Killer Joe) in a harrowing psychological mood piece from Chilean writer-director Sebastián Silva. Temple stars as Alicia, a young woman who leaves America for a holiday in Chile with her cousin Sarah. Planning to travel to an island, before they can leave Sarah departs for Santiago, leaving Alicia alone with strangers, including the oddball Brink (Michael Cera), a bully who enjoys picking on her. Alienated from everyone, she begins to lose sleep, starts to hallucinate and slowly spirals into a vortex of madness. Silva manages to convey a sense of dread without ever crossing over into full-blown horror territory: it’s a slow burn with gonzo moments, all stunningly captured by Chris Doyle’s cinematography. Silva channels Polanski with sharp nods towards female body horror, and Temple, like Deneuve and arrow before her, anchors the film with a bewitching performance, full of nuance and manic hyperactivity. — Ant Timpson