There is an over hanging sense in Juanma Bajo Ulloa THE DEAD MOTHER, that guilt and redemption are at the same end of absurdity. It might be the most profoundly powerful part of a film that has scenes of shock, horror and laugh out loud hilarity. Ismael (Karra Elejalde) is a thief, who in the past broke into the house of a religious fine art restorer. He shoots the homeowner dead but leaves her daughter orphaned and traumatized for life. So far, so shocking. We are mere minutes in and we have an over load of horrors.

20 Years later, Ismael is working in a bar with an owner who is part creep and part schmuck. While there he sees the daughter again, standing in the street, being helped by an old lady. Paranoid that she has recognised him, he takes drastic action. He kidnaps her in a sequence that is absurd and hilarious. Now he is demanding that her hospital pay a ransom for her release. Sounds deeply unsure right? Well its anything but.

Some say gothic thriller. Others Coenesque crime caper with pitch-black humour. What I know is that Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s sophomore feature won a host of prestigious international awards and over saw a bunch of Spanish genre films. With this and his Victor’s Kingdom, you get a sense of a director with an eye for the fringe of life. The short film is here for you to enjoy, which is lovely. Now the first thing to note is that the restoration here is stand out. I saw a VHS version of this before and it was whiteout central. Now its all tonal, rich colour with resonating light and dark. Never fear, it looks astounding. What is actually really well worth digging into is the making of. Its not trait, brutish or plain. It swaggers and informs. A real joy. Well I liked that you heard points about the character construction. How the shooting was a balance of the absurd and how the direction guided and didn’t dictate. Sounds wanky but is important.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:

• 4K restoration of the film supervised and approved by director Juanma Bajo Ulloa
• Uncompressed stereo 2.0 audio
• Audio commentary by Bajo Ulloa
• The Story of The Dead Mother – a documentary on the making of the film featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew (2008, 38 mins)
• Victor’s Kingdom [El reino de Victor] – Goya Award-winning short film by Ulloa, restored in 4K (1989, 38 mins)
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes and promotional imagery
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Xavier Aldana Reyes, author of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration and Cultural Adaptation, and newly translated archival writing by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, co-writer Eduardo Bajo Ulloa and an appreciation by Nacho Vigalondo
• Limited edition soundtrack CD featuring Bingen Mendizábal’s sumptuous score [exclusive to the limited edition]
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings