El Señor de la Noche
2025 · 3m · España
Directed by Lucas Sancho
Genres: comedy, fantasy, surrealism
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
The Lord of the Night, protector of the darkness, is frustrated that he cannot also be the lord of the day, because that would be far too much work.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Finally—a film that understands the cosmic joke: omnipotence bored by its own omnipotence. Sancho takes the tired 'gods among us' premise and inverts it into something genuinely absurd, where the antagonist isn't evil but exhausted, and that's the entire subversive point.
The surrealist register here is precise and controlled—Sancho positions this within a lineage of anthropomorphic mythology (think Cocteau's poetic realism) but the execution feels slight, relying on premise rather than the formal rigor of image or rhythm that would elevate whimsy into something architecturally considered.
The decision to play the Lord of the Night's frustration as petulant administrative complaint—that one tonal pivot—transforms what could be a stock fantasy gag into something that actually lands; it's the specificity of that voice choice that makes three minutes feel earned rather than precious.