- The Replacement
2021-Thriller – 1h 57m, 3,5-in scale: 1-5,
Director: Oscar Aibar, Interpretations: Vicky Luengo, Ricardo Gomez, Nuria Herrero, Bruna Cusi, Pere Ponce, Pol Lopez.
The Spanish detective thrillers accompany us this summer, even traveling to the always interesting decade of the 1980s, as the (excellent) “Small Island” did a few years ago. As there and here, the protagonist is a young police officer, Andres, who arrives with his wife and daughter at a beach resort in order to take up duty. There, seemingly boring everyday life will be disrupted, when he begins to deal with the case of the tragic death of his predecessor, which will lead him to the darkest of the secrets of the small community.
Oscar Aybar faithfully follows the recipe of his predecessors, in what I thought had become a normal subgenre – the Spanish thriller – adding, however, the always interesting historical element. In the aftermath of the Frankish Dictatorship and with the country awaiting elections that would eventually lead to its gradual democratization, the hero arrives in a province where almost everyone in the cafeteria still salutes fascists, while the police are charged with the informal duty of guarding some very middle-aged German suspects. They even welcome him with open arms, but he will soon understand that these are some of the most wanted Nazi war criminals, who have found a convenient refuge in Spain.
The film, in general, is full of clichés and exclusive conventions, but it is the addition of some details (the 1982 World Cup taking place at the same time, the strange story of the doctor who helps Andres, etc.) that enrich the narrative and they ultimately highlight the whole. Of course, the very good performances of the protagonists play a big role, first of all that of Ricardo Gomez, who embodies an uncompromising hero haunted by his own demons, but determined to fulfill the duty imposed by his conscience first of all. It is this persistence and commitment to the goal in a world deeply wounded by the dictatorship and largely morally bankrupt that is the central axis around which the entire story develops. As a new Spain prepares to be born on the one hand, there are the pangs of childbirth and on the other hand the need to uproot the cancers of the past.
- The French Dispatch
2021-Drama – 1h 47m, 3-in scale: 1-5,
Director: Wes Anderson, Interpretations: Benicio Del Toro, Andrien Brody, Tilda Swinton,
Gathering the most impressive cast of his filmography so far, the American filmmaker Wes Anderson attempts to address a “love letter” to a journalism that no longer exists, but certainly fascinating as a museum exhibit. Its protagonists are the editors of the fictional American magazine The French Dispatch, which is based in a fictional French Town of the 20th century. In a special issue marking the death of their editor, the journalists decide to include four stories, indicative of the magazine’s identity.
As viewers, we follow these four reports, which start from the slums of the city, reach the prisons that host a very special artist, then pass through the trenches of the student uprising, to end up in the story of some police officers with a very sensitive ….palate. As usual, Anderson bets equally – if not more – on the aesthetics and content of his narrative, combining bright colors with dramatic black and white.
