TIFF Premiere: Paulina García Stars as a Grandmother Driven to Desperate Acts in Dystopian Thriller
Costa Rican filmmaker Neto Villalobos Brenes brings his dystopian thriller 'Love Is the Monster' to the Toronto International Film Festival, where it will debut in the Centerpiece section on September 15. The film follows a grandmother, played by Paulina García, who reconnects with her six-year-old granddaughter after a family rift, only to face a kidnapping-for-ransom crisis that forces her into extreme moral dilemmas. Inspired by the director's personal loss, the story explores themes of family, loyalty, and class inequality against a backdrop of fear and survival.
The film marks Villalobos Brenes' third consecutive premiere at TIFF, following his two earlier features. Shot along Costa Rica's South Pacific coastline, the production pairs the director with co-writer Diego van der Laat, cinematographer Nicolás Wong Díaz, and editor Yibrán Asuad. García, a Silver Bear winner for her role in *Gloria*, leads a cast that includes Natalia Regidor, Gloriana Vargas, and Ericka Reikendorf. Bendita Film Sales manages worldwide distribution. The director's pivot from comedies to this darker thriller stems from personal grief—his mother's final years, sustained by her bond with her granddaughter, inspired the film's central question about the lengths love demands when tested.
This film could resonate strongly with audiences confronting aging, caregiving, and family estrangement—universal pressures amplified by economic precarity. By centering a grandmother's moral crisis, it may challenge assumptions about who carries protective responsibility in fractured families. The dystopian framing could spark conversations about how fear and inequality reshape personal ethics, particularly for older women often overlooked in thriller narratives. García's established international profile may extend the film's reach beyond festival circuits, potentially influencing how Latin American genre cinema is perceived globally.