Oliver Laxe – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

SIRAT – Review by Yael Friedman (Guest Post)

January 21, 2026January 25, 2026 Guest Post Bruno Nunez, guest post, Kangding Ray, Oliver Laxe, Sergi Lopez, Sirat, Yael Friedman

Literal and metaphorical guardrails suddenly evaporating. We are plunged into the reality that the end of the world is not waiting to announce itself. Sirat follows a charming motley crew of nomadic Europeans ravers, somewhere in southern Morocco. A party in a desert fills up the screen with this moonscape beset by electronic beats, basslines, dancing bodies in various states of rejection of polite society. We are totally immersed, easily led into this pilgrimage, ready to hand ourselves over to this camaraderie, to feeling fully embodied in dance and drugs, the rest of the world melting away. The beautiful and unrelenting score, by Kanding Ray, never lets you unhook.

Festivals Reviews

SIRAT (Cannes FF 2025) – Review by Diane Carson

May 19, 2025May 18, 2025 Diane Carson Bruno Nunez, Cannes FF 2025, Kangding Ray, Oliver Laxe, Sergi Lopez, Sirat

The Arabic word Sirat means way or path. It also refers to the bridge between heaven and hell, as thin as a hair and as sharp as a knife, so perilous it allows only the deserving to cross and all others to perish. This perfectly describes the alternately celebrations and disasters embedded in French Spanish director Oliver Laxe’s film Sirat. Over the course of two hours, middle-aged Luis (Sergi Lopez), with his young son Esteban (Bruno Nunez) and their playful dog Pipa in tow, searches for his daughter who disappeared five months ago somewhere in Morocco’s rugged, hostile environment.

Reviews

FIRE WILL COME – Review by Diane Carson

November 10, 2020November 15, 2020 Diane Carson 0 Comments fire will come, Oliver Laxe, Spanish films

Faithful to the film’s title, director Oliver Laxe doesn’t disappoint. And when an horrendous conflagration arrives in Galicia, the firestorm is reminiscent of the recent devastating California and Colorado infernos. The leadup adds dreaded anticipation primarily because of its slow, understated presentation of the central character, a convicted arsonist named Amador.