Sombras Chinas: Love, Lies, and Life Between Two Thumbs

In a cinematic world flooded with the same tired landscapes, Sebaztian Baz crashes through the algorithm with Sombras Chinas, a debut feature that dares to scroll vertically and forces us to confront the pixelated circus we call real life.

Is it a satire? A thriller? A cautionary tale dressed up in absurdity? The answer is yes and also no. Sombras Chinas doesn’t fit neatly into any box (ironically, despite being the first vertical feature film to hit commercial theaters). Instead, it dances dangerously along the edge of genres, much like its protagonist teeters on the precipice of obsession and self-destruction.

Through the desperate eyes of a social media influencer clutching at the ghost of a broken relationship, and an unlikely partnership with a cryptic, 60-year-old taxi driver, we’re thrust into a whirlpool of manipulation, betrayal, and delusion.

The vertical frame, surprisingly, doesn’t cage the story. Like peering through a keyhole into a world we know all too well, Baz makes Instagram aesthetics and TikTok intimacy feel cinematic, textured, and tragically human. Locations breathe, emotions flicker, you forget you’re even watching "vertical" at all. The risk pays off.

The film’s biggest triumph? Its characters. Flawed, ridiculous, endearing they remind us of our own missteps, of late-night doom-scrolls and performative heartbreaks. Baz’s script is sharp, playful, but never condescending.

Yet Sombras Chinas isn’t without its shadows. Pacing stumbles here and there, particularly in the climax, where the tension loosens. A few missed opportunities to deepen the "live" social media chaos or weave in the static crackle of a fading connection might have sharpened the satire even further. But isn’t that the nature of obsession itself? To lose momentum, to spin your wheels in search of a signal that’s already gone?

Still, it’s impossible not to admire the sheer nerve and heart behind this project. Sombras Chinas is a sly, affectionate wink at a society that pretends to be looking outward, while constantly taking selfies inward. A genre-bending, screen-shattering debut that holds up a mirror and dares us to double-tap our own absurdity.