Nico - Meister des Spiels

For having SUCH a magnificent actor star in it, this film really failed to deliver... Very sloppy writing and directing...many scenes dont even add up... So much rediculousness as apart of the near ending... Its as if time stood still.. and they tried to cram soo many senseless obstacles into the tragectory of the work... Huge fail... For one of the VERY few times ever regarding Spanish cinema I strongly encourage people to just "pass" on this one...

The young man being completely annoying doesnt even begin to kick things off of whats wrong with this one..He's not annoying cause the actor did a great role either.. THAT would say something for the film... he's annoying cause cause hes so terribly written and done.....

I strongly encourage people to ignore this one..

This is a movie I chose to watch because it casts as protagonist one of the best contemporary European actors, Jose Coronado. Here he plays Carlos Albert a middle-aged businessman with a wife, Coralia, and two kids, Nico and Diana. Both Carlos and Coralia are worried about their son's behavior which is cold and distant while sometimes it can become violent too. So, they ask for the professional help of Julio Beltran, a psychotherapist who is struggling to make ends meet. Julio accepts the challenge and embraces Nico in order to unlock Nico's mind and soul. But soon we learn that things and people are not necessarily what they seem to be in this Spanish production, directed by Jesús Monllaó.

The plot is full of twists, with the big one waiting at the end of the film, while the performance by Coronado is excellent, as always, in a role that suits him perfectly. It is a relatively short length film and as a result, the story is tight and with no redundant scenes. Even though many will find the ending kind of predictable, I actually fell for it and I was genuinely surprised by the movie's conclusion. I think that "Son of Cain" will appeal to the -many- fans of Spanish crime fiction which have delivered some of the most exciting crime/thrillers of the recent years such as "The Invisible Guest" and "The Body" . Coincidentally, Jose Coronado is the protagonist on both those films and, in my opinion, is also the primary reason to watch "Son of Cain" .

With a slightly better script, this could have been a very entertaining movie. It started out fine, but then lost its pace and flaws started to appear. Many elements of the story were quite ridiculous, and for me this could have worked if it was all handled in a more unashamedly over-the-top way as for instance in "The Uninvited". Instead of being a source of entertainment I found the ridiculous elements and somewhat predictable plot twists slightly annoying. And finally, the focus on chess was a bit of a cliché.

They may not have invented cinema, but the fact that Portuguese and Spanish-speaking nations consistently contribute masterpieces, fresh ideas, and bold voices to the art form is beyond debate.

Directed by Jesús Monllaó and starring José Coronado, Julio Manrique, David Solans, and Maria Molins, this 2013 film is an adaptation of Ignacio García-Valiño's novel of the same name. I can't speak to its fidelity to the source material-I haven't read the book, nor had I even heard of it before watching the film. Turkey's distributor, Limon Film, and broadcaster Turkcell TV+ didn't bother to clarify this either.

Whether it's due to Monllaó's rookie directorial status or not, the film suffers from jarring tonal whiplash.

A narrative that begins with the gravity of an Old Testament parable or Greek myth abruptly morphs into a Magnus Carlsen-esque protagonist arc, only to culminate in a finale steeped in Hollywood banality.

Whose idea was it to end an Oedipus-inspired tale like a FoxCrime series finale? I'm genuinely curious if the novel treads this path.

Amid a cast stacked with Spanish cinema heavyweights, David Solans outright steals the show.

But in the end, that's all we're left with...

I have some problems with the tempo of the film. It is a bit slow developing and i feel like the story is a bit too transparent and predictable. As you would expect it's all about a puzzle to solve and it comes down to a dramatic final. Depending on your experience and expectations you might find it little surprising or maybe emotional. But on the other hand the movie is well-made and has a good atmosphere so it's totally fine for a rainy day to watch. It's done professional with good direction, good actors, good music and a good script. Only the story-telling could have been a bit more subtle. Don't expect overwhelming intelligence, but an interesting story with some good moments.