"Marshland", Criminal Spain

Marshland (La Isla Mínima, Spanish Original title)

I wanted to get out of the "indie world" for a second, that's why we ended watching 'La Isla Mínima' ('Marshland' as it has been titled abroad), a Spanish crime movie. Excuse me if sounds like immodesty, but what a fantastic choice we made.

Director Alberto Rodríguez has created a deeply solid (kudos to scriptwriter Rafael Cobos), engaging and visually fascinating genre movie. It moves at a very peculiar pace, hypnotised by the strange marshlands of the Guadalquivir river. The space is vast, boggy, scary and isolated. The light and weather its extreme, from heartbreaking colourful to muted and bloodcurdling. So is the people that lives there. Better said, tries to survive.

In this very peculiar environment, two young local girls disappear in September of 1980. And two homicide policemen from Madrid are sent to resolve the situation. The case assigned seems to be some sort of punishment. For Pedro (great Raúl Arevalo), a young, fresh-from-the-past of the dictatorship regime, convinced democrat, because he went too far on his critic of the military stratum, still too powerfully present on the country. For Juan (extremely absorbing and powerful performance from Javier Gutiérrez), for completely the opposite reasons. He's part of the past, a very sombre past, so better move him away from the capital and the arising new era. They couldn't be more poles apart. And the tension between the two couldn't be more evident. "The two Spains" have to work together to resolve what it quickly turns to be a brutal, repulsive crime. One where everyone is hiding. Because everyone knows.   

In a masterful work with only, very minor and superficial details that are questionable but doesn't really affect the cohesion of the film, 'La Isla Mínima' is capable of keeping the needed thriller tension (no spoiling) while is offering much more to the spectator. The intrigue is powerful and well developed. But in a very subtle way, as the movie develops, Rodríguez is dissecting a town and a whole country in a crucial time of its recent history. And his perspective is poignantly dark and strikingly revealing. The lack of values that drives the country to this perennial state of corruption, lies and negligence, resides not only in our past. But basically it's in US. The clash between the two mentalities is a terribly depressing one: it's a lost battle from the very beginning. Completely biased due to the human reaction against violence and vile crime. But also due to fear of losing opportunities (job promotion, chances to get out of town, easy money) and desperate attempts of achieving unconscious dreams. The result? A whole system of empty words about democracy, rights and dignity that masks A "do whatever it takes to achieve your goal and get away with it". Even supposed "good guys" become monsters in order to chase another one. The most disturbing parade, one in which justice is pointless, as it will never arrive to the top of social pyramid. Does it sound familiar to you?   

We left the theatre with an uncomfortable feeling in our stomachs. Sure, we discussed about the resolution of the thriller. But mainly about how Spain's democracy has fall short, very short of it's promises. All because too many abject human beings are still ruling the place. And the wheel keeps turning around. Very powerful movie.

SCORE: 7,75/10

"The Lovely Bones", Peter Jackson without hobbits is...

The Lovely Bones

...Even worse than usual (yes, not a fan of "Lord of the Rings" either, very far from it). It's hard to decide where to begin, as "The Lovely Bones" is a pretty indigestible amount of mistakes. Surprisingly huge mistakes.

I haven't read the book from Alice Sebold, but I can easily adventure myself (you can see there are numerous complaints about it too) saying that Peter Jackson didn't pay a lot of respect to it. Why? Because there are only two options: or the plot is so badly written that nothing really makes sense, or the film has a shockingly serious problem with edition. Well, there's a third option. Both options are correct.

Not even a good cast, who try relentlessly to do something with the material they have, can save the film from total disaster. Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg are convincing being the desperate fathers seeking/longing for her disappeared/murdered daughter, but only from time to time, when Peter Jackson remembers he is directing a supposedly compelling drama/thriller and not a Disney-goes-creepy (or at least on drugs) one, making the relation between the couple completely unbelievable. Stanley Tucci, Mr. Wilson, is solid portraying the serial killer, but his problem is Jackson again, who doesn't know what to do with him, then overuses him, then... (I won't reveal it, but it is so weak). Even Saoirse Ronan, who does wonders with her role as Susie Salmon, is just wasted after she's dead, spending too much time doing nothing in the digital world designed as her way to heaven, which is just a luxurious excuse to satisfy Jackson obsessions with CGI (because it doesn't a real function for the development of the film, just kills its rhythm). And special mention has to be made to the horrendous, totally out of place character of the grandma, played by Susan Sarandon.

But there's plenty more to add. Jackson switches the point of view so many times we get seriously confused, something that is particularly embarrassing with the evolution of time on the film. We "loose" many characters during the development of the film, characters that at some point (or at least in some scene) seemed to be important: Ray, Ruth, Buckley, the policeman....  they disappear and, in some cases, when they are back into scene, are supposed to be crucial for the resolution of the film... Which bring us to the end of the film that I, of course, won't spoil it. But just let me say the amount of sappiness, blandness and incongruousness is going to be hard to match in a long time. "The Lovely Bones" is a complete nightmare of a movie, painful to watch.

SCORE: 1,75/10