Austin Film Festival (AFF) – I’ve watched some uncomfortable movies in my time. Die Blechtrommel is always the first thing that comes to mind when I think of “deeply disturbing cinema,” but, for all the stomach-churning content in it, there was still a point. 2021’s Jacinto, on the other hand, I’m not sure about.

Jacinto is the story of Mallou, a tiny village in Galicia, Spain. Alex (Anxela Baltar), raised in Mallou, has returned from Sweden, where she’s been living, to take over the family home. She and her bandmate, Ana (Corinna Rautenberg), stick out in the tiny rural village, with their metalhead clothing and extremely “modern” ways of doing things.

The titular character, Jacinto Becerra (Pedro Brandariz Gómez), is an adult with “the mind of a child” – always a red flag in horror or any adjacent genre. When Alex and Ana move in next door, he is immediately suspicious. Between his devoutly Christian upbringing and the vampire movies gifted to him by his sleazy, itinerant brother, Millán (Juanma Buiturón), Jacinto is convinced the girls are evil. He avoids them when possible, but as Alex becomes more and more obsessed with trying to get famous, she antagonizes everyone around her. Between his father’s abuse and his brother’s scheming, Jacinto becomes increasingly more determined to do something about the “evil” next door.

It’s hard to know where exactly to begin criticizing Jacinto. There was really no reason for the main character to be “an adult with the mind of a child” instead of just making him an actual child. I can only assume it was to add that “grotesque” factor, which is just gross. Disabled people aren’t a spectacle to gawk at, and I find it hard to take in good faith that that wasn’t the intent when the movie’s tagline is, “When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Forrest Gump.” Nothing about that screams “respectful portrayal of one of the most commonly abused and stigmatized classes of society.” It’s not really horror, and it’s definitely not heartwarming, so the tagline really drags the whole thing down even more.

I can’t really tell what genre Jacinto is supposed to be, either. IMDb says it’s a thriller, but it felt more like a sloppily executed dark comedy. The two can be similar, but when they are, it’s usually not a great movie. I wouldn’t say Jacinto is as bad as Eli Roth’s Knock Knock, but it’s still a miserable viewing experience. Between the child abuse, graphic animal cruelty, and ableism, Jacinto really feels like one of those movies where the director’s only goal was to disgust audiences. If so, it’s a success!

I can’t give it a zero, because on a technical level, the movie is fine. It’s well-acted and well-shot, with excellent music. But the nicest thing I can say about the movie as a whole is that I hope I forget about it soon.

Jacinto reviewed as part of our Austin Film Festival (AFF) coverage.

2 out of 10