Review #19: Buena onda (1999) - Short film

Buena onda is a strange, nonsensical short, in my eyes. Directed by Miguel Coyula, a well-respected young Cuban filmmaker, Buena onda is one of the few, if not the only, Cuban film I've seen thus far in my life. Unfortunately, the impression left by it was not a good one.

Source: Vimeo

Length: 11 mins

Number of Ratings from IMDb: 19

Country of Origin: Cuba

Director: Miguel Coyula [Buena Onda]

From what I can tell, a woman is walking through a forested area, and comes across an item of potential alien origin.

She takes it back home with her, and it causes chaos somehow. I can't tell what the item does exactly, but whatever it is, it's sinister. The story is disjointed, but from what I can tell, her family is rather dysfunctional - the father is a police officer, the mother a broken-looking woman, and the brother, an average brother.

The item in question

My favorite caption of all time

There are various scenes that I feel are lacking in context. I don't quite understand what's going on throughout most of the film, but I do deeply enjoy the last three minutes, in which a Carrie-like massacre occurs in the woman's house.

I'm sure people in Cuba enjoy this short just fine - I just simply don't get it. I don't even think it's meant to be experimental or arty, it's just how Coyula filmed it. It could have been a really interesting film, if the story was a bit more fleshed out. Bit of a shame, really.

Coyula's films nowadays have been getting awards from all over the world at various international film fests. He seems to be doing well for himself, which is nice to know.

My rating: 5/10

IMDb page