A young single mother (Bruna Cusí) maintains a relationship with the prince of lizards himself, who has adopted a human form and is on our planet visiting with unclear intentions (Javier Botet). They live with little Margot in Joaquín Costa street, in the cultural center of Barcelona, between the CCCB and the MACBA and it is assumed that the specimen has been left with its congeners to be abducted in a bank near the parish of Santa Ana.
The queen of the lizards is the new directorial duo movie called Burnin ‘Barnacles, formed by Fernando Martínez and Juan González. A couple that has been bringing their originality to the scene for years underground from the Catalan capital first through YouTube videos and later with works like SearchingforMeritxell (2014) or Ikea 2 (2016).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2jmy054b5I
Emerged from the new generation of filmmakers lowcost, from which names such as Carlos Vermut (‘Diamond Flash’) or Carlo Padial (‘My crazy Erasmus’) came out, one of its main characteristics, in addition to the low budget they have had for their films, is that of offer a very unconventional look at the characters and the spaces they inhabit, through an everyday aesthetic that seems to want to flirt with ugliness, but always escapes it thanks to a certain aesthetic sense of its plans, in this case somewhat vintage for being the film shot in Super8.
What is clear is that his vision contributes to de-glamorize this image of tourist Barcelona through an enormous sense of authenticity. So although many places rooted in the collective imagination appear during the film, through his eyes it seems that we see them for the first time.
From the Glòries to the Arts Santa Mònica
The characters walk the Via Laietana, the Avinguda de Francesc Macià, Plaça de la Bonanova, the carrer de la Lluna, Plaça del Àngels (next to MACBA) or the hub of the Plaça de les Glòries. Architecture is undoubtedly important in the film, but there is something strange about the itineraries of the characters, a feeling of Martian nature that runs throughout the film. So, the facade of the Arts Santa Mònica culture center becomes the hands of the Burnin ‘Percebes in a parish, and Casa Gracia in a seminar to prepare the catechesis where little Margot disguised as a lizard attends. And since the issue is one of lizards, it was also necessary to visit a pet shop, specifically ón Món Animal ’, in Carrer de la Foneria, where you can find a wide variety of reptiles as it is their specialty.
The Montjuïc telephone
However, there are several scenes that are especially significant. In one of them, the lizard king climbs to the top of the municipal pools of Montjuïc to project his telepathic powers onto the minds of earthlings who listen to him from below. From there, you can see a good part of the city of Barcelona and together with its new queen, they will cover all their domains with their eyes. And since we are talking about incomparable views, the film culminates precisely in the Telefèric de Montjuïc, which offers a unique panoramic view of the entire metropolitan space as if we were looking at it from the sky and with a bird’s eye view. At that moment, the first images of the film in which we see a lizard tour the subway, the chimneys near the ‘Europa Fira’ railway stop and the port seen from the World Trade Center, as well as Tibidabo while a passage of Easter sounds and Bruna Cusí sits on his throne.
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