Variety’s review describes Pablo Larraín’s “My Sad Dead” as a darkly comic ghost story set in Buenos Aires’ Piedrabuena complex. Retired doctor Ema hears the dead; after the water supply is mysteriously contaminated, residents can hear them too.
Ema has moved back to care for her terminally ill mother. Her estranged sister arrives from Seattle with troubled teenage daughter Julia, who also communicates with the dead. The review says the film mixes supernatural and body horror with black comedy and satire of the neighborhood’s violence and social isolation.
Conceived as a Netflix miniseries, the project was recut into a 186-minute film for its San Sebastián competition debut. The story does not turn Ema into a crime-solver: she can sometimes distract ghosts from the shock of their deaths, but does not solve mysteries or bring killers to justice.
