Supermisil
2013 · 13m · México
Directed by Javier Arcelus
Genres: drama, family, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
Antonio, a father whose work worries eclipse his son Toñito's fascination with the television hero Supermissile, explodes at the boy, then encounters an unusual situation on his way to work that shows him superheroes and villains are real.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise sounds like greeting-card sentimentality—workaholic dad learns magic is real, learns to love his kid—but Arcelus actually commits to the absurdity; the father's encounter with real superheroes/villains feels genuinely uncanny rather than whimsical, which is the only way this lands.
A compact fable that knows its lineage (magical realism meets the melodrama of paternal neglect) and executes with formal precision—the tonal shifts between domestic argument and surreal street encounter feel calibrated, even austere, in a way that respects the form.
The film pivots entirely on how Arcelus frames that encounter on the way to work—the decision to make it unsettling rather than delightful, to prioritize the father's disorientation over wonder, is what transforms a familiar premise into something that actually earns its ending.