El fondo del mar

The student of architecture Ezequiel Toledo (Daniel Handler) is obsessed by his girlfriend Ana (Dolores Fonzi), feeling a sick jealously for her. When Ana is invited to go alone to a party sponsored by her company, Ezequiel becomes paranoid. He arrives at their place unexpectedly and finds a man hidden under their bed. He follows the man trying to find his name – Anibal (Gustavo Gárzon) – and occupation, along a night full of incidents and misunderstandings.

"El Fondo Del Mar" is a weird overrated movie. The beginning of the story gives the expectation to the viewer of a great movie, blending suspense with dark comedy like in "After Hours". Unfortunately nothing happens, the plot point is ridiculous and the story is absolutely silly. Honestly I do not understand how this film was nominated and won some categories of minor festivals – it seems to be a joke! My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Ezequiel is a young architecture student whose world begins to collapse when he finds out that there is another man in his girlfriend Ana's life. He does not know how to handle the situation very well and makes a series of bad decisions in retaliation. Damián Szifron creates a dramatic, suspenseful, and comedic film which develops very unexpectedly. From the very beginning of the film we follow Ezequiel, learning who he is and what he does. After his realization of the events which his girlfriend has taken part in, we begin to experience a side of Ezequiel which seems to be as new to us as it is to him. His actions at various times are very abrupt and without much thought, which make the audience wish they could stop him or at least advise him. This is a good sign that the director achieves capturing us in the story and causing us to feel what the main character feels, although there is nothing we could do about it. Although Ezequiel's rash actions give the public occasional scares, after the fact they become quite comical and ensure the viewer an enjoyable movie watching experience.

After seeing "Tiempo de valientes" by this very gifted director, Damian Szifron, and being mesmerized by the high quality of that movie, I searched for another of his few titles, and found "El fondo del mar", which is a previous production, maybe his first movie.

They say that "second parts are never good", well, in this case we have to reverse the saying because the second part ("Tiempo de valientes") is undoubtedly MUCH better than the first film ("El fondo del mar") and I'm sure Mr. Szifron agrees with me.

Here I will plagiarize the phrase another reviewer used as the title for his critic, a jdruni, from Philadelphia, that said "Moods rather than storyline". How accurate, how clear minded to be able to express with a minimum of words the whole purpose of this picture!! (But nobody knows if the movie was made with that intention).

They touch here the jealousy motive, old as the world and a never ending manifestation of the human character as long as people will survive to only three inhabitants on this earth. Paranoid jealousy can be extremely perilous. For the jealous and for his/her victim.

What the jealous person doesn't realize is that when his/her partner gets a lover, THERE IS A REASON for doing so. It's so simple. Most people never think that one may not be totally fulfilling as a lover, a friend, a caring partner, etc. because... NOBODY IS PERFECT!!

We all lack or fail in a determined field and the other person has to look for that missing link on somebody else. Many triangles are the perfect solution for this dilemma. But unfortunately people get extremely aggravated when they are faced with their own weaknesses and there comes out the ugly monster of jealously and the following discussions, beatings, and many times, killings.

It's a pity that this film starts in excellent shape to go downhill scene by scene to a very confusing ending, leaving the audience in a blank state of confusion. For example, the episode of the empty swimming pool was so obscure that I only got its meaning towards the end, when somebody mentions that incident. And many other details get lost without explanation or even motive!! The actors were good and the technical part irreproachable. But the film lets you down.

Honestly, I expected a little bit more from Damian Szifron. If any of you had a chance to see his TV show "Los Simuladores" you know what I'm talking about. The premise is nothing out of the ordinary: An upper-middle class, shy guy goes completely paranoid when his girlfriend shows "cheating symptoms", hence he decides to follow her apparent lover all night long. Szifron manages the pace of the movie really well, which helps to convey the idea that something else is going on apart from the main plot. The latter is the only thing that gives some value to this thriller. However, the twist is not strong enough since the second plot point falls short from the audience's expectations. In the end, many things are left unsaid, the subplots are completely ignored or not developed and some things which might look like motifs throughout the movie, never come back or do not express any special significance. All in all: go watch it and see for yourself.

It presents an obsessive jealous guy in a good mix of suspense and comedy. In fact, the jealousy seems to hide his unconformity with his relationship. After a highly enjoyable first hour, the movie decays a little, being at the end just a nice note about maturity. The cinematography is good. Clever jokes in a silly movie. 6.5/10