El cuerpo

THE BODY (EL CUERPO) is one of those thrillers that grips you at the beginning and never lets go till the very end. The plot is straightforward: Álex Ulloa (Hugo Silva) has suffered a sudden bereavement, as his wife Mayka (Belén Rueda) has died of a heart attack. The corpse has been taken to the morgue without a postmortem, but has mysteriously disappeared. The morgue security- guard Torres (Miquel Gelabert) has been scared out of his wits - so much so that he runs out of the building and is knocked down by a car. Inspector Jaime Peña (José Coronado) investigates the crime, but finds the task difficult as he is still plagued by the memory of his wife's death a decade earlier in a hit-and-run accident. Sometimes his emotions get the better of him.

Set largely in and around the morgue, Oriol Paulo's film is a masterpiece of modern film noir, complete with dark shadows, long tracking shots down corridors, and point-of-view shots where we share the protagonists' uncertainties about what is going on. To complicate the plot still further, he introduces flashbacks into the past lives of Jamie and Álex, to show how the past exerts an almost paralyzing influence over the present.

The action takes place one dark night, where the rain pours down outside, confining all the characters to the claustrophobic space of the morgue. Within that space, Jaime apparently tries his best to tease out the truth of the crime, but Álex keeps resisting him. On the other hand, Álex tries to communicate with his girlfriend Carla (Aura Garrido), in an attempt to elope with her, but finds his endeavors continually frustrated by circumstances. Neither he nor Jaime can apparently obtain what they want. In this disordered environment, the logic of cause and effect has been deliberately disrupted.

As the action unfolds, so director Paulo further complicates the action by introducing sequence that represent projections of the protagonists' imagination; in other words, putting their assumptions on screen. This further complicates our comprehension of the plot; we have no idea how to separate 'truth' from 'fiction'. This confusion makes the dénouement all the more shocking.

Brilliantly performed, with Coronado giving a quite outstanding performance as the guilt-ridden inspector, THE BODY deserves to be considered a modern classic.

At first, i tough this is not going to be a good movie, but later on i realize that has a very good plot and a solid performance of the entire cast. this is the kind of movie that you must see every detail. kept you intrigue along the entire film. The end was the best, a really good end, like the kind of movies you don't know what's gonna happened to the final. the art is for me another strong point, really well ambiance when you also can feel the mystery.

So i give 8 out of 10 to this great Spanish film. Very recommendable. PD: as you can see English is not my first language, so sorry for the basics lines.

Mystery , intrigue about bizarre facts happen in a morgue .The same team - actress (Belen Rueda) , producer (Mikel Lejarza , Mar Targarona) , screenwriter (Oriol Paulo) , cameraman (Oscar Faura)- who made ¨The orphanage¨ and ¨The Julia's eyes¨ bring us another suspenseful film , ¨ The body¨ or ¨El Cuerpo¨ . The picture is thrilling and some moment brilliant , and the actors are quite reliable as Jose Coronado and Hugo Silva . And again a wonderful Belen Rueda as a nasty woman in a movie with intense sequences of tension and suspense . It deals with a veteran detective called Jaime Peña (Jose Coronado) searches for the body of a femme fatale (Belen Rueda is sensational in one of her best films along with ¨El Orfanato¨) which has gone missing from a morgue . As main suspect there appears her husband Alex Ulloa (Hugo Silva) . Alex is detained and finding alone in the morgue , he is terrorized by strange events , surrounded by corpses and then weird deeds take place .

The film contains tension , thriller , drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense sequences especially in its final part , in a unexpected denouement , near of the end . Hitchcock-style psychological thriller , being surprisingly good and compellingly realized . The original as well as entertaining idea is overspread throughout the movie , but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls . The main cast is frankly fine , such as José Coronado as Inspector Jaime Peña who bears a dark past , Hugo Silva as upsetting Álex Ulloa , Belén Rueda as Mayka Villaverde , a selfish and domineering woman and the young lover Aura Garrido as Carla . The motion picture is pretty well , although sometimes stagy and packs excessive turns ; however is entertaining for continuous suspense . Sinister and mysterious atmosphere plenty of lights and shades , it is finely photographed by cameraman Oscar Faura . Suspenseful and stirring musical score by Sergio Moure who previously composed successful films as ¨Unconscious¨ and being expert on frightening atmosphere such as ¨Thesis on a Homicide" and ¨Kidnapped¨ .

The film was well produced by various producers , such as Joaquin Padro , Mar Targarona and Mercedes Gamero ; all of them have produced a lot of successes in the new Spanish cinema . Being professionally written and directed by Oriol Paulo who formerly realized only short movies and wrote ¨The Julia's eyes¨ . The movie will appeal to suspense enthusiasts and Belen Rueda fans . Rating : Good , better than average . It's well worth watching and contains some really thrilling scenes and disturbing images .

A very exciting thriller with many interesting and surprised fluctuations which probably even had puzzled Hitchcock but also made him proud.

The film is very classic, almost old-fashioned, and it flirts healthy and often with particularly mentioned the horror master. The story moves very smoothly between Film Noir, and more traditional contemporary thriller.

"The Body" is about a woman's dead body disappears from the morgue. The husband of the deceased woman, quickly becomes a target of both, the murder of his wife and stealing the body. He was called to the scene to assist with the investigation. The interrogations led by the right shady Commissar, with his own dim past and hearings interspersed with flashbacks of the couple's life, which is played in various flashbacks.

Everything takes place in a proper rainy night in the morgue and the surroundings could hardly be more nasty and claustrophobic. The film really works admirably well and fooling with the viewer, exactly where it wants. The script is well written and although certainly a gap or two can be found, don't bother to look when you are in the middle, instead of being frightened and follow the clues presented.

The film is directed by Oriol Paulo, who two years ago-wrote sovereign "Julia's Eyes" in which Belen Rueda plays Julia and in "The Body" she plays the unsympathetic Mayka (the deceased), an incredibly believable performance. There are good actors in all roles and although sometimes the commissar is near the border of caricature so successful balancing act and it never gets too much.

The last scene when everything unraveled is somewhat contrived. Everything needs was not unfolded and some unanswered questions are good to keep a little spice, but despite the somewhat pedagogical explanations in the end, everything leading up to it wonderfully confusing and nerve wracking as well, as I really hope to get jump-to more such films by Oriol Paulo ahead.

7.5/10.

This is how you have to do a movie like this. It's a ride from beginning to end and it will keep you guessing throughout. Maybe you'll get things right and see the signs, maybe you're just enjoying things unraveling as the movie flows by. Whatever the case, you can be more than entertained with this little gem.

The acting is top notch and the script is really clever (I try to use this term as lightly as possible) and there is a touch of coolness to the characters, that is not forced upon them. The story might seem bigger at the beginning that it finally turns out to be, and there might be people disappointed with the ending. Take a chance though ... or wait for the inevitable US remake ...