Writer and directed by Carlota Pereda, based on her short film of the same name, Piggy is a wonderful horror/thriller. The basic plot of the film revolves around morbidly obese teen Sara, who is routinely bullied by the local mean girls, becoming the obsession of a serial killer who has recently come to her village.
There is quite a bit to unpack here as Sara deals with the ostracization of the pretty girls her age, including her former best friend Claudia (Clau) who has gained the approval of the mean girls. It’s a turn reminiscent of Heathers or Mean Girls in which a girl accepts entry into a clique but at the cost of severing ties with their unaccepted friends. This becomes quite the major plot and character point of the film. Sara not only has to deal with this emotional crisis but the fact that her parents are completely oblivious to her woes. While her family is loving, Sara’s mother is overly forceful while her father is mostly passive, leaving both parents either frustrated by Sara’s behavior or considering it a phase of being a teenager. What we end up with is the portrait of a young woman who is physically and emotionally isolated at a time in her life when she is at her most insecure. Its daunting to watch as actress Laura Galán as Sara makes this entire story work with her performance. She tugs at your heartstrings in one moment and conflicts you in the next as she makes a series of decisions that drive the plot forward towards the climax of the film.
To that point the real drama starts when the serial killer takes a personal interest in Sara, and begins to change his methodology to target those who abuse her in even the slightest fashion. One woman becomes a victim for an offhand comment that was not delivered in malice but in the twisted mind of the killer this is enough. The crux being that Sara stumbles upon the kidnapping of the mean girls, including Clau, and says nothing when the killer does her a small kindness instead of eliminating Sara as a witness. From this moment forward the film puts both Sara and the audience into a terrible moral dilemma as Sara wrestles with fear, hatred, love and longing.
Director Pereda skillfully crafts a tale that keeps you guessing as to the final outcome right up until the climax. One is never certain as to what Sara’s fate will be throughout this entire film while various other characters push and pull her in different directions. As a protagonist she is both reactive and proactive which further adds to the emotional roller coaster. Will she try and save her tormentors, or will she write them off as getting what they deserve?
There is a wonderfully eerier courtship being offered by the killer to Sara and the levels of tension created by this reminds me of the work of DePalma or Hitchcock. The actress and director have created a sympathetic and memorable character in Sara and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what she might do or what might happen to her. Pereda does not ignore the world around Sara either as we see how her actions affects this small village community that she lives in, from the local police to the parents of the missing teens. It all comes together perfectly to tell an entire story. The only truly ambiguous element, being that of the killer. We can guess at his motives and why he fixates on Sara but appropriately this is never voiced outright. He is the outsider in this story, the one who has intruded on the lives of the people in the sleepy little village in Spain.
This sophomore effort by director Pereda looks like the work of an incredibly mature and seasoned creator and the performances, particularly that of Galán as Sara, are all top notch. If it’s a thriller you are after with a lot of emotional content, this fill is not to be missed.
5 out of 5