THE RED SQUIRREL (Directed by Julio Medem. Starring Nancho Novo, Emma Suarez)

Spanish director Julio Medem’s excellent debut Vacas translated as Cows. The title of his new film, however, should not be taken to suggest that he is the David Bellamy of the film world. The Red Squirrel is, in fact, the name of the campsite, what has been squirelled away is the heroines memory. Emma Suarez is a woman who falls to earth, plummeting into the picture from a motorcycle accident just as the hapless Jota (Nancho Nova) is about to commit suicide over an unhappy love affair. She is left perfectly formed but completely amnesiac, and Jota takes advantage of this gift from the Gods by convincing her he is her boyfriend and spiriting her away to the titular campsite for a medicinal dose of sun, sea and sex.

Medem sets his intriguing mystery up with host of unsettling, forboding images, and as the woman’s identity begins to reassert itself the film takes increasingly darker turns. Yet Medem has a light touch, and mines an almost surreal vein of humour as he employs the structure of an erotic thriller to address philosophical questions of identity. He slowly and elegantly draws all the strands of plot and imagery together, and yes, he even finds space for a squirrel.

The Red Squirrel is intriguing, entertaining and assured, a riveting metaphysical melodrama that suggests Medem is a director every bit as visionary as his countrymen Almodovar and Lunas. Like them he conjures up a wild vision of life, but throws in a bit of genuine wildlife to boot.