Short Film Review: Mariana Hormiga – A Bold Tale of Desire and Downfall

Maite Uzal’s ‘Mariana Hormiga‘ is a short film that doesn’t say much, but it speaks in riddles, laughs in your face, and leaves you unsettled. It feels like a cocktail of folklore, satire, and surrealism, a story that feels both timeless and unnervingly close to home.

From the writer/director’s point of view, this is not just a tale being told. She has built a world where human existence is used to expose some cracks in nature’s design with some wit and bite. The story is set in ‘Thorbat‘, a fictional land. Here we see a mother and her daughter who are homeless and beggars on the street. They are in the same situation, but their outlook on life is very different. The mother is cynical, lazy, and consumed by greed. She wants riches without sweat, comfort without sacrifice. Her daughter, Mariana, is her opposite. She is earnest, hardworking, and oddly fascinated by ants, creatures she sees as symbols of persistence and discipline. When a mysterious, regal woman appears and offers them each a wish, the stage is set for a transformation that promises salvation but instead delivers ruin. The film becomes a cautionary tale. When desire is unchecked, it can be the very thing that destroys us. The mother’s hunger for wealth and the daughter’s innocent devotion to labour are two sides of the same coin. Both are driven by longing, both doomed by it.

From the opening frames, ‘Mariana Hormiga’ carries the spirit of radicalism. The absurdity is intentional, the humour sharp, and the darkness lurking just beneath the surface. It’s a balancing act between whimsy and menace. The kind that makes you laugh but also quickly leaves you uneasy.

Maite Uzal’s direction is fearless to say the least. She doesn’t play by the rules of conventional storytelling. Instead, she leans into instinct, crafting visuals that feel raw yet deliberate. The film’s imagery is steeped in Spanish folklore, but it refuses to be bound by tradition. Every shot feels alive, textured, and slightly unhinged, like an abstractpainting that’s been splashed with both beauty and madness. She clearly knew the film she set out to make and stuck to it. That refusal to compromise is what gives Mariana Hormiga its edge.

The film’s heart lies in its exploration of desire. It asks what happens when we reach for things beyond our nature, when we crave shortcuts instead of effort, illusions instead of truth. Yet beneath the moral lesson is something more personal for the filmmaker. Maite Uzal interestingly plays the role of Mariana when her wish is granted. You can tell from her commitment to that performance that just like the film’s plot, she is an enigmatic woman who grants wishes and wields imagination as both a blessing and a burden.

In under twenty minutes, ‘Mariana Hormiga‘ achieves something rare. It feels timeless yet bizarre. Though it wears the clothes of an old-world fable, its message is painfully relevant in today’s culture of instant gratification.

I will score this short 3.5 out of 5 stars. As strong as its themes and message is, it can be lost on many. Especially those who might not have the patience to digest its bizarreness. Nonetheless, it offers rony, truth, and the courage to embrace imperfection.