Timothy
2013 · 10m · España
Directed by Marc Martínez Jordán
Genres: coming-of-age, dark comedy, fantasy
Tones: dark, surreal, whimsical
Simón, a boy tormented by his babysitter Sonia, receives an unexpected night visit from Timothy, his favourite fictional character, in a visit he will never forget.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A babysitter-torment setup that could've been a PSA becomes something genuinely unsettling the moment a cartoon character materializes as the kid's avenger—it's the kind of tonal whiplash that makes you uncomfortable for exactly the right reasons, and nobody else would've trusted the audience to follow it.
Jordán locates this film in the lineage of magical-realist interventions (a touch of Guillermo del Toro's sensibility), where the formal restraint of the live-action sequences makes the irruption of the fantastical feel earned rather than imposed.
The entire film pivots on a single sound design choice—the moment Timothy's voice enters the space—which transforms the whole thing from a realistic nightmare into something mythic, and that one decision carries the entire emotional and tonal weight.