Víctor Erice makes a welcome return to cinema screens with his fourth feature in fifty years, just over three decades since his last. A rich and beautiful tribute to cinema that in some ways bookends his 1973 debut The Spirit Of The Beehive, not least in its casting of that film’s lead actress Ana Torrent, Close Your Eyes begins in Franco’s Spain, where a man is hired to locate a missing young woman. However, this is quickly revealed to be a film within the film; the emphasis now shifts to its production in 1990, when its charismatic leading man Julio (José Coronas) suddenly disappears without trace. In 2012, Miguel (Manolo Solo), the director of that doomed film, resolves to find his missing actor and finally gain closure in this fine addition to Erice’s small but essential body of work.

Víctor Erice’s films will screen at the IFI throughout April.

Notes by Kevin Coyne