Daniel and Ana, brother and sister, best friends. Both are at pivotal, defining moments in their contented lives. Ana is about to be married, Daniel is a gregarious teenager discovering his personal and sexual identity. Yet their harmony is instantly shattered when they are kidnapped and are forced to engage in an unforgettable act for their freedom. Their old lives become a distant memory and nothing will ever be the same again.
Daniel & Ana is a 2009 Mexican drama-thriller film directed by Michel Franco. It had its world premiere on May 18, 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival and stars Dario Yazbek Bernal, Marimar Vega, Chema Torre, José María Torre, Hector Kotsifakis, Verónica Langer, Jessica Castelan, Verónica Langer, Irma Berlanga, Naty Lomas, Diana Resendiz. The movie follows two siblings that are kidnapped and forced to have sex on camera, as well as the emotional trauma that follows afterwards.
Film Review for Daniel and Ana
Based on a true story and unfolding, we are told in the film’s opening moments, “exactly as it happened,” “Daniel & Ana” takes a dispassionate look at the aftermath of a particularly heinous crime.
Set in a light-filled, color-saturated Mexico City that only emphasizes the grimness of its subject, the film observes the violent destruction of a once close sibling relationship. Ana (Marimar Vega, excellent), a pampered college student with affluent parents and a loving fiancé, is excited about her approaching wedding. But when she and her 16-year-old brother, Daniel (Darío Yazbek Bernal), are kidnapped and forced to have sex on camera or be killed, the fallout will resonate in a shockingly unexpected way.
The spare, relentlessly controlled debut feature of the Mexican director Michel Franco, “Daniel & Ana” advances on minimal dialogue and with virtually no musical accompaniment. Emotions, too, are purposely muted, leaving the actors with little to play as the siblings, telling no one of their ordeal, withdraw from their bewildered family.
This stylistic restraint may help deflect accusations of exploitation (though the film’s two pivotal sex scenes both feel uncomfortably extended, the initial crime lasting a squirm-inducing six minutes), but it also impedes our connection with the victims. By the time we learn that Daniel is by far the more damaged of the two, we know so little about him that it’s difficult to care.
Daniel and Ana (2010)
Directed by: Michel Franco
Starring: Dario Yazbek Bernal, Marimar Vega, Chema Torre, José María Torre, Hector Kotsifakis, Verónica Langer, Jessica Castelan, Verónica Langer, Irma Berlanga, Naty Lomas, Diana Resendiz
Screenplay by: Michel Franco
Cinematography by: Chuy Chávez
Film Editing by: Óscar Figueroa
Costume Design by: Josefina Echeverría
Set Decoration by: Martha Camarillo
Art Direction by: Martha Papadimitriou
Music by: Atto, Immanuel Miralda
Distributed by: Strand Releasing
Release Date: August 27, 2010