Go see Sirât. It’s not widely screening in LA right now, but it is playing at Alamo Drafthouse, which is where I saw the Spanish film, through next Wednesday. The movie is about a Spanish man, his son and their dog traveling in Morocco to find his daughter, who has disappeared into the desert rave scene some months earlier. A war breaks out, the ravers decamp to the south of the country and the father and son follow them deeper into the desert.
There’s a lot going on in Sirât and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so the one thing that I will mention is that the sound design is exceptional. The score is frequently diegetic, meaning that it’s the music the characters in the film hear, and it interacts with their surroundings in both clever and realistic ways. For example, you can hear the crackle of techno pouring through busted speakers and the way a song fades into the wind when you’re driving in the middle of nowhere with the windows open. This all adds to the story, but you need to hear it for yourself.
Sirât is a beautiful, and heavy, film that will stick with you after you leave the theater. See it with someone else so that you can talk about it afterwards. Like I said, it looks like Alamo is the only place in L.A. showing Sirât this weekend and next week, but it’s right in the middle of downtown, literally above a Metro station where four trains converge, so it’s a fairly convenient for most people. Plus, they have half-priced screenings on Tuesday and bottomless popcorn, which is a plus even if you have to order from your phone now. In Orange County, Sirât is playing at The Frida, which is also an excellent movie theater and is walking distance from the Metrolink stop in Santa Ana. Plus, Metrolink has$10 day passes on the weekends, a good option if gas prices have you reconsidering plans right now.
But, wait, there are more recommendations below.
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