Film Review: MALTA: Natalia Santa’s Realistic Dramatic Film is Led by a Brave Performance by Estefanía Piñeres [SXSW 2024]

Malta Review

Malta (2024) Film Review from the 31st Annual South by Southwest Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Natalia Santa and starring Estefanía Piñeres, Patricia Tamayo, Emmanuel Restrepo, Cesar Badillo, Lorena Castellanos, Diego Cremonesi, Edwin Riveros and Angela Rodriguez.

Malta is an ultra-realistic, sometimes somber, slice-of-life from director Natalia Santa. It stars Estefanía Piñeres as Mariana, a young woman with no direction who meanders through life going from one sexual encounter to another with little or no direction. She has a job in a call center and goes to school for a German class but she’s still unfocused in terms of her personal life. She has dreams of escaping Bogota, though. It’s just that she seems to be going through the motions to make it through her day-to-day life. Piñeres delivers a performance that feels very authentic in a movie that is raw and unique and keeps the audience at a distance from Mariana’s emotions for much of the film. Still, there’s a lot to admire about the quality of Santa’s direction here.

This film opens with Mariana urinating in the shower, perhaps a sign that this will be a raw account of her life with little or no sugar-coating. This movie surrounds Mariana with a dysfunctional sort of family that includes her overbearing mom, Julia (Patricia Tamayo) and Mariana’s sister, Monica (Angela Rodriguez in a stand-out performance) who pulls a lot of the financial weight around the house. In a guy from her school named Gabriel (Emmanuel Restrepo), Mariana finds a kindred spirit of sorts who helps her get through the mundane aspects of life. Gabriel and Mariana form a connection that is believable on-screen and one which feels like it is based upon mutual respect.

A plot thread in Malta surrounds Mariana’s brother, Rigo (Edwin Riveros) who has gotten a girl pregnant and has thus decided to disappear and leave that girl on her own. A very moving scene in the picture has Mariana encountering that woman by a bus stop and learning the baby is going to be a girl. This film is full of scenes like this one which hit straight to the gut with realism. They include details that help the viewer understand the characters just a little bit better. Piñeres doesn’t make the viewer sympathize with her own predicament too much. Instead, the actress lays out the details and realities of her character’s life choices which, in turn, lets the audience make its own decisions as to how it feels about Mariana.

There are vivid sex scenes which include one where a man takes control during some rough intercourse with Mariana. She seems as if she’s lost control here and the sequence makes us realize that Mariana must settle down and stop going from man to man to pass the time. There’s no sense of true belonging for Mariana when she is with these man and these flings may help her sexually but don’t do anything else to progress her life forward otherwise.

Mariana’s mother, Julia, is portrayed very authentically and Tamayo does a great job fleshing out the difficulties a parent faces when confronted with a child who doesn’t seem to have direction in her life. Julia wants Mariana to move on and the challenges the pair face in their complex relationship is well-detailed on screen.

The scenes between Restrepo and Piñeres serve to add some humanity to the movie which starts off as almost documentary-like in its frankness and realism. Restrepo, in particular, shines, portraying a character with a lot to offer whose interaction with Mariana sheds some light on the fact that she needs someone like Gabriel in her life, even if just for a short time. While this is not a cookie-cutter relationship at all, it helps give the movie depth where it desperately needs it, especially coming on the heels of some very risque sex scenes that don’t lead anywhere.

Estefanía Piñeres single-handedly brings much to her complicated role and it’s to the actress’s credit that she doesn’t always make it easy to sympathize with her character’s predicament. The familial aspects of the picture are tightly woven into the film’s delicate, if slim, story line. As the sister, Rodriguez creates a true-to-life character who is trying to be responsible for the good of her family and the actress hits it out of the park in just a brief amount of screen time.

In the end, Malta does still have quite a bit on its thematic plate even if the story is not exactly overflowing with plot details. Instead, the movie relies on the way every day life steers Mariana towards goals which aren’t always obvious on the surface. This film doesn’t have a simplistic ending. Instead, it’s one with a lot of ambiguity. For much of the movie, the viewer doesn’t know much about what makes Mariana complete in her life, but the audience will know what motivates her by the film’s ending. This picture sneaks up on the viewer by the end with its very delicate views on life and all its ups and downs.

Rating: 7/10

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