Summary
Laura’s family is gathering in her small hometown village for her sister’s wedding but when a crisis emerges, the family’s baggage and secrets are brought to light, clouding the resolution of a life or death struggle.
My Viewing
This is the second Penelope Cruz, spanish language film I’ve seen in the last few months (“Volver”) and i have to say that the experience has me looking for more. I figured I would like this one as it is an Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”) film and I really enjoyed the way he unfolds a mystery.
My Thoughts
One of the toughest balances to strike in a thriller, mystery, or crime drama or procedural is the balance between revealing information and hiding the final ending from your audience. On the one hand, you don’t want everyone to have the whole plot figured out as soon as you introduce the bad guy but on the other hand, when the villain is revealed you don’t want the audience to feel like it came out of nowhere and they had no chance of figuring it out.
Farhadi is a master of creating mysteries that don’t immediately feel like a who dunnit. Because of the slow way the central conflict of the film unfolds, you never have your antenna up for clues or tells and when the crisis happens, his focus is not exclusively on the procedural nature of events. His focus is also on the family involved and the emotional toll it takes on them.
By American standards it’s hard for me to even call it a crime thriller because the family element is so strong that it feels like a drama.
By creating a world where the things that are going to lead us to answers revolve not so much around evidence as motivation, the question of who did what tends to be more about who would want to do this thing. That is a character question not a logistical question and it makes the mystery center on people’s hearts.
The heart. Now, that is something hidden and so truly mysterious that it feels like every few minutes you are presented with some information that makes you sure that you know what happened only to be subverted in the next scene by some new information about another character. Before you know it, you don’t have any clue who did it because it feels like everyone had the ability and knowledge necessary to do it and the real question is not “who could have done it?” at all. The question is, “who decided to walk that dark path right under our noses?”
This whole process is helped along by absolutely amazing performances from everyone in the film. No one is playing a hard nosed detective or detached crime scene investigator. They are playing characters who are emotionally involved in what is happening and they play those roles like they are working for an Oscar, not a daytime or even prime time Emmy.
These performances are all this movie is relying on to make you care and question and creep to the edge of your seat. Thank goodness they are all so well done and directed.
This vague review may be hard to read because I really believe that I shouldn’t reveal anything about what happens in this film. It would completely spoil how special it is but I would highly recommend any fan of crime thrillers and family dramas go out of their way to find this film. It may not be on Netflix but it approaches those genres in a polar opposite manner to shows like CSI or Law & Order.
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