SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! There is a new dark majesty in the midnight movie realm with the phenomenal masterpiece Rains Over Babel (Llueve sobre Babel), the fierce feature debut by Columbian cult auteur Gala del Sol. Taking place in either a fantastic near future or a mythical near past, we meet El Boticario (Santiago Pineda), a new-wave mystic who works as a bartender at the club Babel. His wife, Uma (Celina Biurrun), who works as a bodyguard, grew up in the circus and hasn’t spoken since she was seven. These two will act as guides for the audience to the peculiar world they inhabit, which may seem strange to some and wondrous to others. In this neon realm live folks like drag artist Roma (Roman Escobar) and his roommate Monet (Johan Zapata), the poet who also deals drugs.
A still from Rains Over Babel by Gala del Sol, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
“…In this neon realm lives drag artist Roma and his roommate, the poet who also deals drugs…”
By day, Roma and Darla Experiment (Jhon Bayron Quintero Valencia) work a street corner, while at night, they perform in the drag wars at Babel. Preaching against the drag queens is Pastor Don Alfonso (Jhan Narvaez), while his son, Jacob (William Hurtado), is secretly showing signs of stigmata that have started bleeding from his body. At the center of the constant movement of beautiful creatures at Babel is La Flaca (Saray Rebelledo). A disco queen embodiment of Death, she will play cards with you for years of your life while sending out her gorgeous reaper Dante (Felipe Aguilar Rodriguez) to collect the crystals of the recanted departed before they step through the final doorway.
Meanwhile, Babel owner Gian Salai (John Alex Castillo) has everything riding on the big show tonight by The Black Mamba. It will clear his tab with the loan sharks, but only if the notoriously unreliable lead singer, El Callegueso (Jacobo Velez) actually shows up for the gig. When there is no sign of the singer, Salai sends his son Timbi (Jose Mojica) out to find him. For this, Timbi enlists the help of the exiled gypsy La Pitonisa (Jennifer Martinez Mora) and her talking lizard named Rosa (Felipe Aguilar Rodriguez). All three start looking for the lost singer in the strangest of places.
"…transgressive, delightfully deviant and absolutely addictive."
