The Ornithologist

Director: João Pedro Rodrigues
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 2.0

Bird expert Fernando (Paul Hamy), just checking out some storks in the forest, has his kayak capsize and almost drowns, but he's saved by two Chinese tourists ... who then tie him up as a sacrifice to nocturnal spirits - he escapes, sees strange pagans and makes out with a mute goat herder, whom he later stabs. Although it's gorgeously photographed and methodically paced, it works better as a mood piece than an allegorical tale (allegedly inspired by St. Anthony of Padua), where it's just amateurish and clunky (and that last fifteen minutes is surrealism-gone-sour). St. Anthony was the patron saint (among many things) of lost people, lost souls and lost items: does that include lost filmmakers?