A mother and daughter duo beg to survive; the mother is lazy, and the daughter wants to work. This leads to a woman granting both of their very different wishes.
Written by Maite Uzal who co-directed with Rubén Pascual Tardío, Mariana Ant is a delightful, entertaining tale made to make one think about their own way of thinking about work, money, and the value of a living being. Yes, this seems like a lot to cram into a less than 17 minutes short film. The writing here is solid with good direction, a story connected to being human and human needs, creating characters one can enjoy watching while things that seem completely out of nature happen on the screen. The way this film is written and brought to the screen is charming and showing talent for storytelling with a solid connection to human emotions.
The cast here is full of talent and brings the story to the screen in just the right way. There is something charming in each performance here, and the whole cast makes the film what it is: magical. The lead of Mariana is played by two actresses, one for Mariana as a child and one for Mariana as an adult. Úrsula Tomás Abril plays the child version of Mariana with charm and innocence while Maite Uzal plays her with a bit more maturity but still a sense of innocence. The two of them create a complete character, one that keeps the viewer involved and interested. Isabel Ordaz plays Mariana’s mother here and does so with the right balance of despair and laziness, a touch of “don’t care if she’s liked” and that desperate but not willing to do anything different vibe. She’s the mom people like to assume beggars are, and she is doing all there is to do to be disliked or rather she’s doing nothing she needs to do. The rest of the cast comes into play around the lead characters and makes the film more complete with their performances.
The cinematography by Rubén Pascual Tardío is magical at times, giving the film that feeling that this may be a fairytale and showing some influence from Bruno Delbonnel (when working with Jean-Pierre Jeunet). The work here is lovely and eye-catching while it brings the viewer into the story with fun angles and exaggerated points of view. This work really brings the film together from story to acting to décor to costumes. It makes the film feel like it has its own universe.
Mariana Ant is a solid short film that feels like its own world, gives the viewer more than they may have expected going in. The writing and direction are more than good, and the performances really sell the film. The cinematography is fantastic. All elements come together beautifully well to create a short film that gives the viewer all they need to get really into this film.