Perfectly a Strangeness

In a scorching desert landscape, three donkeys stumble across an astronomical observatory. This opens up not a world, but an entire universe for them. Palomo, Ruperto and Palaye, as the animals are called, marvel at the wonders of technology and the infinite beauty of our galaxy.

Or are the donkeys themselves the true wonder? A donkey’s eye is a universe in itself. The ear too, for that matter. All those ultra-sensitive little hairs, gently quivering; the ears sometimes flattened, sometimes upright, rotating like antennas.

This perfectly strange film is like a poem, masterfully told in images and sound. Director Alison McAlpine, who previously made the long documentary Cielo (2018), invites you to create your own story. A story about beauty that lies in the immense or the minuscule, about the way we look at animals, about what a story can be? Anything is possible.