Moon Child

El niño de la luna

Spain

1989

118 Min

Color

1.55:1

Spanish

Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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PROD Selma Baccar, Moustapha Benjemia, Adolfo Cora, Jaime Fernández-Cid, Chattab Garbi, Julián Mateos, Francisco Villar

CAST Maribel Martín, Lisa Gerrard, Lucía Bosé, Enrique Saldana, David Sust, Mary Carrillo, Günter Meisner, Heidi Ben Amar, Lydia Azzopardi, Jack Birkett, Lluís Homar, Albert Dueso, Joaquim Cardona, Lydia Zimmermann

MUSIC Dead Can Dance

Cannes (In Competition), Rotterdam (Signals: Villaronga)

Synopsis

Fantasy film that delights the eye. The moon-child is a blonde orphan during the Interbellum, who believes that he has been chosen to fulfill an ancient African prophecy. To do so he must escape from a mysterious organization. With an unreleased Dead Can Dance soundtrack.

The success/notoriety of In a Glass Cage enabled Villaronga to raise the budget for a far more ambitious project. His sole essay in fantasy, Moon Child is a visually sumptuous fairy tale for enlightened and open-minded adults. It features a blue-eyed boy with paranormal powers, a secret sect of fascist occultists hidden in a weird villa, and a journey of self-realization towards an Africa that is a very real and present but also mythical mindscape.

One could also say: Moon Child is a most astonishing and disturbing mix of Marvel Comics (think X-Men) and Aleister Crowley – the film’s title is actually derived from a 1917 novel by last century’s most influential Satanist; which, again, lends the dedication ‘A mi padre’ a certain salaciously ambiguous je ne sais quoi… –Rotterdam

Director

Agustí Villaronga

He has been active as a director, screenwriter and actor since 1976. His oeuvre consists of four short films, five fiction films, two television films, two documentaries and two episodes for Spanish television series. Villaronga’s impressive full-length film debut Tras el cristal (1987) is still seen as a controversial work. He has also made strong films with a surreal edge, such as El nino de la luna (with a soundtrack by Dead Can Dance and a lead role for the band’s singer Lisa Gerrard, 1989), El mar (2000) and Aro Tolbukhin. En la mente del asesino (2002), all of which are bringing increasing international recognition for Villaronga’s work. His new film Pa negre (2010) had its premiere in competition at the San Sebastian film festival, and won a Silver Shell for actress Nora Navas. –Rotterdam