Yo

Mallorca. A German man named Hans comes into town to replace the previous garden manager, also named Hans, on a small estate owned by a wealthy German. The latter is an unstable and demanding boss. If that were not enough stress for Hans, the locals are unfriendly towards him.

Weird things begin to happen and Hans is confounded. The weirdness piles up and our attempts at sorting out the growing number of plot elements seem futile. Our curiosity is peaking.

If you are the kind of cinephile who likes to work out solutions to mysteries, you will reach a point where you start to reconsider all your assumptions. It's back to square one. Right then, the critical scene occurs. It lasts seconds, so don't blink. Hans has a aha moment that explains what has happened so far and he shares it with us through a glancing remark. You say: Of course! Clever!

It's the film's midpoint. With the view cleared we enter the second half with a renewed comprehension. Yet a dead body puts our certainty to question. What sort of plot element is this? Hans does not give us any other hints. He is complicit with the plot's obfuscations. The end puts everything into perspective.

Alex Brendemühl plays Hans, a German man, a bit silly, without past, starts working for Tanca, a millionaire who lives in a small town of Maiorica. This is the enigmatic beginning of an enigmatic film, very well supported by the Brendemühl and the other actors.

Filmed on location, the film of Rafa Cortés shows us a person who is boring about its own life and tries to live the life of another man but probably it doesn't give him the happiness. The rhythm of the film is quite right: very slow, leaving for the spectator many questions without answer, full of silences and black humour etc. but it's a pity that the end is so precipitate and the spectator has a feeling of dissatisfaction.

As a curiosity, director Rafa Cortes made a few strong rules for the shooting of the film, for example Brendemühl is shooting from just one side. The reason of these rules were for increase the subjective sensation of the film.

Yo tells the intriguing story of Hans, who moves from Germany to Mallorca to take up a job as a groundsman on a large estate. Lost (in more ways than one) from the moment he arrives in the small town, Hans struggles against a bleak and somewhat ominous atmosphere from the word go. None of the locals seem interested in his attempts at conversation, and those who do engage with him can't seem to remember his name – which becomes even stranger when one realises that the previous groundsman was also named Hans.

The first Hans was a dominant, somewhat dangerous character, and his shadow hangs heavy over the new Hans as he tries to forge his own place in the community. In a village where names seem to define not just identity but also station, Hans struggles to keep himself distinct from his predecessor in the minds of both the villagers and himself.

A fascinating and disturbing film, Yo has something to say about how circumstance and the opinions of others can come to define us. Well made and making excellent use of light and mis-en-scene (especially reflections, and that door to old Hans' bedroom that can never seem to stay closed), the film's subtle air of menace keeps one on edge even during the most innocuous of scenes.

Alex Brendemuhl as Hans nails his character's gradually escalating confusion and frustration, and brings an endearing dorkiness to Hans, which contrasts nicely with the "ladies man" reputation of the old Hans. Without spoiling the climax, I can say that it poses more questions than it answers; Yo is sure to leave everyone who sees it talking about it for days.