La hoguera
2016 · 7m · Argentina
Directed by Nicolás Amelio-Ortiz
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
As a storm approaches, Roque and Macarena return from an afternoon of fishing. In road darkness, the pair discovers a bonfire burning among trees.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A bonfire in the dark and two people who stumble into it—sounds like every campfire-horror setup ever made, and Amelio-Ortiz knows it, which is exactly why the film refuses to deliver the jump scare you're bracing for; that restraint is almost perverse.
The film locates itself in a lineage of Argentine noir and slow-burn suspense—deliberate framing, the storm as a formal device—yet it doesn't quite resolve whether it's commentary on genre or simply genre itself, which keeps it from the clarity that would make it essential.
The decision to hold on the bonfire itself, letting the reflection play across their faces rather than cutting to what they might be afraid of, transforms seven minutes of genre setup into something genuinely unsettling—one compositional choice that makes the entire film work.