La Noira (Broken Heart Horror by Carlos Baena)

 

La Noira received tons of praise before I even looked at it, and since my suggested viewing kept bothering me about it I figured “okay, fine.” Directed by mainstream (gasp) powerhouse Carlos Baena (ahem Jurassic Park III and Toy Story 3, among many others) La Noira (which translates to “The Ferris Wheel”) has been billed by many as “animated horror,” but really this is but a small component and more of a diversion. Baena has left any clear inspiration for the story absent. The short presents a young boy building a ferris wheel out of an Erector Set. In his discouragement a scribble on a piece of paper of some childhood monster soon gives way to hideous creatures that begin to crawl through his home and chase him into the attic, where all is revealed in a vibrant clash of blackness and bright colors. Watch it in full below.

 
 

I’m not going to spoil the reveal, though I will say you’ll probably figure it out far before the ending. Baena leaves plenty of clues to determine the real identity of the creatures and if La Noira has any fault it’s that its hidden meaning is perhaps too obvious. This is, however, intentional I would estimate, because hiding the meaning too deep would lose the emotional impact. It’s not a horror film about monsters, it’s a horror film about being human, which is 100% more frightening than any grotesque you could scribble upon paper and Baenat says more than a feature-length in far less time, and without even a brief moment of dialog. It’s all in the eyes and the visuals, and his mastery of animation makes it all painfully touching.

 

Carlos Baena Official Vimeo

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

La Noira (2019)
Carlos Baena (director), Nightwheel PIctures (distributors)
4.7 / 5