Play review

Reminiscent of Me And You And Everyone We Know, this vibrant debut feature from Chilean writer-director Alicia Scherson provides a real tonic for jaded cinematic palates. A self-styled ‘urban fairy tale’, the digitally shot Play examines the intersection of two contrasting lives on the streets of Santiago.

Cristina (Viviana Herrera) is a young woman of Indian descent, hailing from the countryside but now a nurse for an elderly Hungarian. When she discovers a briefcase belonging to an architect, Tristan (Andres Ulloa) – himself experiencing a painful relationship break-up – she decides to follow this melancholic stranger’s wanderings...

Scherson creates a host of enjoyably idiosyncratic characters, including Tristan’s flamboyant blind mother and her magician lover. And beneath the visual stylisation and ironic humour lies a perceptive enquiry into identity and class.