Being born, growing up, reproducing, making mistakes with your children, waiting for them to talk to you or visit you one day, and dying, is the central theme of Nocturna: The Great Old Man’s Night–a devastating portrait of life that turns into a riot of night terrors accompanied by the loneliness of a man.

Ulises (Pepe Soriano) is a 100-year-old man who lives in a building with his cranky wife and a group of neighbors who act in strange ways. This environment does not benefit his mental state at all — there are times when he completely loses track of time and forgets what he was doing. Accompanied by this, he has recently felt chest pains that force him to stop his activities. One night, a neighbor starts banging on his door desperately to get in and ask for help. Ulises’s innocent heart wants to let her in, but his wife does not allow him to do so since she does not recognize the woman knocking on the door. Showing no sign of giving the neighbor a hand, she begins to insist as she yells a series of insults at the man. Is she actually a burglar or could she be a spirit that haunts the building at night?

Nocturna: The Great Old Man’s Night acts as a movie of the paranormal range when recounting the events that involve the man. However, the story goes beyond simple ghosts and objects that crawl on the floor. The plot is told throughout a single night, and you can appreciate the different times in which events occur during some scene transitions by showing exactly the hour and minute that each act begins.

In general, it is a heartbreaking story that does not scare at any time, but can make you feel overwhelmed by what the man is experiencing and his declining state of health— the viewer’s empathy plays a large part in the sad outcome. It is appreciated how human beings can come to question whether we have done things well at all times, whether we have made good decisions throughout life, whether we have appreciated the people who have shown us their love, whether we have decided to be alone for fun, and other questions that mourn our own existence and future.

Nocturna: The Great Old Man’s Night tragically shows the true fears of human beings: aging, loneliness, death. Despite having some scenes that could give the viewer nightmares, I think there is a greater chance that the viewer will be forced to think about what he has done with his life and question if there is still time to continue living. Also, there’s a second part to this film, in case you want to watch it— Nocturna: Where The Elephants Go To Die is another point-of-view of the story.

Check out Nocturna: Side B – Where The Elephants Go To Die for the conclusion to what starts here.

8 OUT OF 10 MEMORIES