NOCTURNA: SIDE B - WHERE THE ELEPHANTS GO TO DIE (REVIEW)

Dir. Gonzalo Calzada

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

Acting more as a companion piece than a standalone film, NOCTURNA: SIDE B showcases Calzada's genius in story telling. Working alongside the events of SIDE A, this is a much more experimental field of film making and feels more like early David Lynch than the more straightforward initial instalment.

This time, the events are told from the perspective of Ulises wife, Dalia and the film is delivered through voice over and reworkings of the original film against a scratchy 35mm lens. Often displacing natural sound with animal noises and haunting melodies, SIDE B is more of an extended cut that adds a new light to what happened before but not necessarily gives a new story.

The power of perspective shows a more loving wife, but never strays away from the truth percived by Ulises who has always remained loving. Where SIDE B gives the ghosts much more screentime, the message captured is still the same.

NOCTURNA is an event film, one that within two parts allows writer and director Calzada to gift us with a truly unique tale that balances perspective with heartfelt story telling. As a standalone film, it's an interesting slice of cinema that has context only when married up with SIDE A. Often confusing and it never retains a straight narrative jumping between characters to coincide with the pattern of events through the first piece. Strange that this would be SIDE B when it feels like an auteurs first work but nevertheless shows balance between an artist willing to put everything on his sleeve.

Much like it's leads, NOCTURNA: SIDE A has a story to tell, one that becomes a solid extra to a brilliant must-see movie that will be more of interest to cinephiles than casual movie goers.