Gerardo Naranjo’s Voy A Explotar (I’m Gonna Explode)

Screens Sun Sep 28: 9 and Mon Sep 29: 6

This is a film that very much feels like yesterday and also today.   It feels very much like a French New Wave film filled with the youth and spirit of today.   It’s a visual visceral journey about youth, rebellion and cinema. The story follows two doomed young lovers Roman and Maru, each on outsider that is unhappy with their life until they meet each other.    From there they hatch a plan to escape their lives and wreak havoc on their parents.

The film is vibrant although I didn’t find it to be anything new or exciting. The young performers are good but then again they’re mostly pretending to be in a Jean-Luc Godard film (at the press conference they admitted to watching Pierrot le fou)   That isn’t to say there aren’t beautiful moments, moments that show the power of cinema,  just that overall the film doesn’t reach very far.

One thing that I think is worth noting is that the choice of font and design that exists in the film is great - and this is no small feat.   So many good movies choose awful fonts and design of title sequences that I wince at, that I shake my head at.   It is nice to see a film that cares about these things and incorporates them instead of leaving them as an afterthought.

Give a watch to the trailer below to see what I mean and to judge for yourself.

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