La Sirga

A haunting, mesmerizing feature from Colombia with an edge of danger overlaying its exotic images, La Sirga is set in a remote lakeside village called La Cocha, in the High Andes. One day a traumatized young woman named Alicia (Joghis Seudyn Arias) arrives in La Cocha, seeking refuge in the home of her estranged uncle, Oscar (Julio César Robles), who runs a dilapidated inn. Alicia has fled the destruction of her town and the murder of her parents by unidentified guerrillas, and while Oscar offers her sanctuary, he is clearly reluctant to do so. Oscar warms to her over time, however, especially when he sees how hard Alicia works to help housekeeper Flora (Floralba Achicanoy) make the inn ready for tourists—who might never even show up, given the constant thunder of distant gunfire. Writer-director William Vega employs subtle dramatic tones, while Soffia Oggioni's dreamlike, disquieting cinematography captures enigmatic images: cracks of light seen through gaps in a bedroom wall; the strange sight of a grassy mound drifting on a lake against the wind; the seemingly innocent appearance of one boat following another—many alluding to unspoken forces that are bearing down on the story's characters. Recommended. (T. Keogh)