The mystery at the heart of Close Your Eyes may, eventually, be answered, but that hardly ties things up in a neat bow. This remains, through its end, a malleable, elusive meditation on memory and legacy. Directed by Victor Erice, who wrote the layered screenplay with Michel Gaztambide, Close Your Eyes focuses on an aging filmmaker named Miguel (Manolo Solo) whose career came to an abrupt end decades earlier when an actor in his film disappeared mid-shoot, leaving the project unfinished. (Close Your Eyes opens with an extended sequence presented as footage from the abandoned movie.) When a TV series about unsolved cases picks up the story, the resumed investigation opens unexpected pathways to Miguel’s past. There are meta elements all over this, especially considering Erice—best known for 1973’s The Spirit of the Beehive—hasn’t made a feature since 1992. (The phrase “close your eyes” is spoken at one point in Beehive.) Close Your Eyes is comprised of long, thoughtful conversation scenes, interspersed with lyrical imagery (including an imagined recreation of the actor’s final moments). There are also three poignant sequences employing diegetic music as a mode of memory, any one of which will likely puncture your heart. When the facts of our lives fade, it may be the art that we’ve experienced over the years that still holds the power to—if I may paraphrase this precious, intimate movie—awaken our souls.
(12/19/2024)
