Teen siblings Helena and Sebastian are thick as thieves, living in a grand yet decrepit home with their ailing mother and a maid. But when mom finally succumbs to cancer, the house and its scant residents fall into true disorder. Sebastian falls for high school bad boy Juan, while Helena grows closer to a rich boy, Ismael, who may hold an attraction for Sebastian, despite having a girlfriend.
But it's the relationship between Sebastian and his sister that really heats up, crossing the line into incestuous. As their friends, the maid and a new boarder -- Ismael's ping-pong enthusiast girlfriend -- get sucked into the drama and sexual experimentation, the siblings are ultimately forced to burn a few bridges to create new, independent paths for themselves.
At times bearing similarities to Ian McKewan's The Cement Garden, Burn The Bridges is a tremendous feature debut from director Francisco Franco. While dramatic and at times a little shocking -- for instance, Sebastian cruises and hooks up with degenerate characters -- off-kilter humor leavens the mood, and performances are fantastic across the board.
