Aqueronte

In Aqueronte, winner of Best Director at October's Kutaisi International Shorts Film Festival in Georgia, Spanish writer-director Manuel Muñoz Rivas takes viewers on a surreal 26-minute journey across the Guadalquivir River in his native province of Andalusia – a trip here loaded with themes of existential inquiry and the weight of grief.

The film follows passengers of all ages on a haunting ferry-ride on a river here reimaged as "Acheron" – in Greek mythology, the aqueous passage to the underworld. Each individual on board grapples with their own struggles for redemption, creating a plot of interconnected stories that resonate with ideas of memory and loss.

The film opens with the evocative notion of saying goodbye, a sentiment that permeates its narrative. Mauro Herce’s cinematography captures this essence with breathtaking representations, while offering mostly static, photograph-like portraits of each protagonist – their immobility in contrast to the water flowing behind them – that invites our contemplation.

The deliberate, measured pacing and sparse dialogue contribute significantly to the film's emotional resonance: viewers are given the time and space to immerse themselves in the passengers' internal worlds. The mixture of visual imagery and audio silence becomes cumulatively cathartic, external sounds punctuated only by the soft voices of the characters as they examine their dreams and memories.

Key moments unfold as passengers share fragmented dialogue, hinting at their pasts and fears. Sequences in which dreams are discussed, including some especially poignant reflections on loss and longing, reveal the profound impact of memory on their present identities – when a teenage boy, after being awakened by his father, recounts a reverie involving his grandfather.

Elsewhere we see children playing, jokingly placing coins in their eyes in a gesture that offers money to Charon, the mythological ferryman. It highlights their innocent misunderstanding of mortality, that turns a serious topic into a source of humour. The proposal by children that Charon may already be deceased – it is suggested that the boat has taken him – introduces a whimsical dimension to the narrative. This interpretation underlines how kids often engage with complex themes through a lens of lightheartedness (humour and playfulness can function as coping mechanisms for youngsters when confronting complex themes such as mortality).

The father-son conversation emotionally addresses memory and loss, echoing earlier exchanges among other characters struggling with their own unresolved farewells. Simultaneously, children who do not grasp the gravity of mortality are depicted. These different perspectives offer viewers deeper insights into the complexities of understanding death in human experiences. While touching, such repetition can start to feel a little monotonous.

The film employs a striking visual flourish in the transition of coloursm, from a deep red to a serene white, symbolising the passage of time and the potential for acceptance. As the shore draws nearer, it signals the possibility of resolution and new beginnings. Muñoz Rivas – though using an over-familiar metaphor of a floating river-ferry as a journey of life – works with the experienced Herce (whose own Dead Slow Ahead (2015) also dealt with a journey on water) to masterfully deploy light and shadow and thus conjure an atmosphere of ethereal transcendence.