LOS CHICOS
2023 · 19m · Spain
Directed by Jaime Dezcallar
Genres: dark comedy, drama
Siblings celebrating a birthday party are confronted when the group surprises one brother with an unexpected present involving hired services, testing bonds and boundaries.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Dezcallar wrings maximum dramatic pressure from the birthday party form — the social contract of gift-giving becomes a trap, and his double AvilaCine win confirms the script's architecture.
Birthday party, surprise sex-worker gift, family pressure cooker — Spanish festivals adore this exact register of awkward-laughter-into-discomfort. The award list is suspicious in its uniformity.
Dezcallar uses the family birthday surprise as a pressure cooker for sibling dynamics — Spanish chamber-comedy tradition rendered with restraint. Awards-circuit competent, modestly memorable.
Festivals
- AvilaCine 2023, Best Short Film