Hermana
2020 · 16m
Directed by Mikaela Bruce
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
Two sisters isolated from the outside world see their bond threatened when a seed of jealousy planted long ago begins to take root, forcing them to face their darkest feelings.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a locked-room psychodrama about sisters, which sounds like a dozen other festival entries—except Bruce lets the jealousy actually *fester* instead of exploding, and that refusal to climax conventionally is the only reason it sticks.
A assured chamber piece that understands the grammar of isolation cinema; the restraint in performance and the deliberate pacing situate it firmly in the lineage of Haneke and early Ducournau, executed with formal discipline.
The entire film pivots on a single choice—shooting the sisters' deteriorating dynamic almost entirely in static, symmetrical two-shots that slowly tighten—and that compositional discipline transforms what could be melodrama into something genuinely unsettling.