Chile’s Paulina Garcia, winner of the Berlinale Silver Bear for her performance in Sebastian Lelio’s “Gloria” and whose latest pic, Ana Endara’s “Beloved Tropic,” plays at the Costa Rica Film Festival, has boarded “Love is the Monster” by Neto Villalobos, best known for his comedies “Helmet Heads” and “All About the Feathers.”
For his third feature, Villalobos dives into the thriller genre for the first time with a story set against the backdrop of a tropical dystopia. “Love is the Monster” follows a seventy-year-old grandmother (Garcia) who is faced with the end of her life. Determined to make the most of the time she has left, she seeks to grow closer to her six-year-old granddaughter. But when an unforeseen threat puts everything she holds dear at risk, she must confront how far she’s truly willing to go.
“’Love is the Monster’ is born from a deeply personal need to talk about my mother, old age and fear from a perspective distorted by the social reality we live in. In this tropical dystopia, I want to explore how far a grandmother can go for love, in a world where tenderness and violence coexist under the same skin,” Villalobos told Variety.
He co-produces the thriller through his production shingle La Sucia Centroamericana with Peru’s Jimena Hospina of Candu Films.
“Starting a project in another country is always an adventure—this time, in Costa Rica. It’s something that really excites me, especially after making a film in Panama [“Beloved Tropic”], where I discovered a whole new world that feels quite distant from South America,” said Garcia.
“The film Neto is proposing is captivating, wild, and fierce enough for me to surrender to it and follow him into the world he’s created with [co-writer] Diego van der Laat. A delirium like this, for an actress, is both a challenge and a joy to bring to life,” she added.
Described as a gripping thriller that “examines the extremes we’ll reach for love, while exposing the biases and limitations society places on aging—especially for women,” it will film for a month, starting July 20, combining professional and non-professional talent, said Villalobos.
Credit: Nicolas Wong
LA CASA DE PLAYA
Variety Below-the-Line Talent to Track, Costa Rican-Peruvian DoP Nicolas Wong, whose credits include “Beloved Tropic,” “La Llorona” by Jayro Bustamante, “Helmet Heads” and Peruvian Ricardo de Montreuil’s Barbara Mori and Christian Meier drama, “Mistura,” will lens the thriller in Golfito, described as a tropical Fjord, and Corredores in Costa Rica’s South Pacific.
Historic banana plantation buildings and the region’s striking natural landscapes—such as African palm fields—will also provide the backdrop to this drama.
The project is said to have resonated with both audiences and professionals at festivals and forums, including San Sebastián, Toulouse, Panama and CRFIC. It has also garnered support from such key institutions as Ibermedia, DAFO (Peru) and El Fauno (Costa Rica).
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