No es fácil ser… Gorka Otxoa
2016 · 8m · España
Directed by César F. Calvillo, Teresa Bellón
Genres: dark comedy, drama
Tones: contemplative, darkly comic, provocative
Actor Gorka Otxoa pays a home visit to a terminally ill man who is a devoted fan — and also a despicable person — raising the question of whether you can tell a man to go to hell when he is already dying.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Most films would genuflect before a dying man, but Calvillo and Bellón ask the genuinely perverse question: what if the dying man is a bastard and the visitor owes him nothing? It's the kind of premise that makes people uncomfortable in exactly the way cinema should.
A formally precise chamber piece that recalls the ethical provocations of Haneke or the tonal balance of late Koreeda—two strangers in a room, and the film trusts the space between politeness and moral clarity to do all the work.
The entire film hinges on Otxoa's decision to stay present and unflinching in the face of this contradiction, and in that single refusal to perform either saint or judge, the eight minutes become unforgettable.