El mensaje

Anika can read and understand the souls of animals. She establishes contact with dogs and cats, with horses, birds, capybaras and hedgehogs. She is also capable of communing with the spirits of animals no longer with us in the world of the living. This gift of communication with animals is something that runs in the family and that Anika has inherited, as her grandmother points out. It is all about listening to the animal, then translating what it feels into descriptive phrases, before subsequently clarifying them with the animal’s owner. Whether natural telepathy truly exists or not is irrelevant here, because EL MENSAJE is not an apology for superstition—rather, Iván Fund’s latest feature is a painstaking portrait of language and belief as experienced both in childhood and other ages. An attendant narrative thread, both modest and elliptical, introduces a sensitive counterpoint by way of the sorrowful clients who come to Anika full of longing for the animals that previously warded off their loneliness. The third member of the family present is Anika’s mother, whose soul cannot be read by any telepathic power, and from whom one can merely expect a hug and a few kind words. (Roger Koza)

Iván Fund: LA RISA (2009), LOS LABIOS (2010), HOY NO TUVE MIEDO (2011), ME PERDÍ HACE UNA SEMANA (2012), AB (2013), TOUBLANC (2017), VENDRÁN LLUVIAS SUAVES (2018), PIEDRA NOCHE (2021)