Santa Zeta opens with a slow motion shot of a man running toward the camera. His face has smears of black paint on it that contrast with the whites of his terror-filled eyes. Behind the man is a masked vigilante who pursues him with a tennis racket. What even the hell is going on? We find out alright and it’s a hell of a ride. Antonio Muñoz de Mesa writes and directs Santa Zeta, an absolutely electric thriller that dazzles with its flashy editing, clever writing, and globetrotting story while creating a sexy, fiery, heroine in Zoe (Nekane Otxoa).
You see, that masked vigilante with the racket is Zoe. She is a popular travel vlogger from Bilbao, Spain by day and secret angel of justice justice by night. Who is she after? Pedophiles. Why is she in Japan? Zoe is after the person that abducted and murdered her younger sister. No, he isn’t in Japan. She has no idea where he is. But while she toils away back home in Spain to unravel the one mystery that haunts her, she satisfies her sense of justice by locating predators the globe over and killing them.
Back home, in Spain, Zoe lives a comfortable life. Parents Igor (Iván Villanueva) and Laura (Arlette Torres) manage to keep an upper-middle class lifestyle going. Their home looks like a lovely museum as Laura glides into the pristine kitchen after a day out. Frumpy, with tousled hair, Zoe rolls out of bed to give her mom a gift. Her mom is non-plussed, irritated even. How can Zoe afford gifts, much less have a future traveling the world making funny videos? Zoe’s mom then reminds her to take her pills and dashes off to something more important. Zoe’s parents do love her, it’s just that they are worried about her. They have good reason to be worried.
Soon enough Zoe is off on another wild adventure to Los Angeles and we follow her chase there. De Mesa creates a strangely logical mix of travel influencer hype paired with thriller vibe. One minute Zoe is eating a street taco, the next she is sneaking into someone’s home with a gun, stealing hard drives, and killing sickos. Still there’s that burning mystery that drives her.
Nekane Otxoa is the bad ass female assassin that so desperately need right now. She creates a sexy, aggressive and smart hero that we cheer for. While her resourcefulness and insight pushes credulity Otxoa sells it with her magnetic performance that you simply can’t look away from. She is a cold hard lady justice and the troubled daughter of well to do parents, yet she sells it as well as de Mesa blends the disparate elements of his film.
Speaking of de Mesa, he really impresses with his ability to write, direct, and even edit an almost two hour film that feels like a tight 90 minutes. Rapid cuts, fast dialogue, and a hero that you route for keep you glued. I will admit that the travelogue scenes felt ran a bit long. Once we had established that Zoe travels, we really didn’t need to take a ride on the Santa Monica Pier coaster or try a food truck with her in LA. But then again, maybe we did. Maybe that is why the film just sort of works.
Then there’s also the fact that De Mesa impressively delivers a global-scale thriller with a reported €420,000 or rather a production budget of just under half a million US Dollars. That is sorcery if I’ve ever seen it. Santa Zeta is a prime example of what you can accomplish not with a big budget, but with raw creativity and talent.
