Alma
2009 · 6m · España
Directed by Rodrigo Blaas
Genres: coming-of-age, fantasy, mystery
Tones: contemplative, surreal, whimsical
Little Alma walks down a snowy street on her way home when she notices an enigmatic doll in a toy-shop window; fascinated, she decides to go in.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A cute kid-finds-creepy-doll story that *looks* like it's going somewhere transgressive, but ultimately genuflects to fairy-tale sincerity—pretty to watch, but it never commits to the genuinely unsettling premise it dangles.
Blaas demonstrates assured control of tone and visual composition, working within a lineage of animated fables that stretches from Grimm through contemporary art-house practice; the restraint here is what gives it weight.
That decision to hold on Alma's face in the final moments—letting the ambiguity live in her expression rather than resolving it—is the entire film, and it's what transforms a simple premise into something that actually stays with you.