El desentierro

My luck ran out at the Spanish Film Fesitival with Nacho Ruipérez' El desentierro / The Uncovering which is protracted, hard to follow and nasty. This is a pity because it belongs to a nice cycle of moody regional Spanish thrillers of which La isla minima / Marshland is the best known.

It's another ones of these coming back from Argentina pieces where probing events of the characters' childhood disturbs dark half forgotten intrigues. The Mario Fernandez Alonso - Carlos Perez Gasco second unit work places the piece in the forlorn flat lands that give the piece atmosphere.

Back from being packed off with the religious teachers, Michel Noher returns for the funeral of his Valencian politician uncle Jordi Rebellón. He resumes his friendship with his cousin Jan Cornet (The Skin I Live In) and sinister events proliferate.

Flashbacks trace the involvement of Noher's father Leonardo Sbaraglia (Intacto) with a girl from the now derelict cabaret. Shots are fired. Old secrets uncovered and bodies exhumed.

It sounds better than it is - something like Pablo Trapero's La Quietud. Even so it's nice to see Anna Torrent still looking good in her brief footage.

The sudden appearance of an Albanian woman in a Levante coastal town causes Jordi (Michel Noher) , recently arrived from Argentina, to attend the funeral of an important Minister, then he decide to investigate the past of his father Pau (Leonardo Sbaraglia) , who disappeared twenty years ago and whom everyone thought was dead. Diego (Jan Cornet), his cousin, son of the deceased Valencian politician and now turned into a wandering writer who lives retired in a village in Perpignan, helps him. Both of whom attempt to find Pau at whatever cost, and they find out he tried to getaway from the country with Tirana (Nesrin Cavadzade), Vera's (Valeria Schoneveld) mother, in order to help her free herself from the criminal organization that had subjected her to the practice of prostitution. Nacho Ruipérez' noir debut directorial debut!. 20 years is not enough to bury a damn secret!. A thriller by Nacho Ruipérez!. It's though to move on when the past isn't buried!.

An intense thriller with intrigue, plot twists, tension, suspenseful, crossfire and lots of violence. This serious but no original film with difficult narrative with plenty of flasbacks, resulting to be a fantastically intriguing story of disapperance and murders, but confusing realization. Being acceptably done, swiftly paced and including a twisted screenplay, but takes ideas and similar environment of the notorious La isla mínima (2014) by Alberto Rodriguez . Interesting theme about a couple of cousins who carry out their objectives by whatever means, including violence, slipping outside the bounds of the law through their use of force, coercion , lies and half-truths ; however this issue has been previously treated in many other films , especially American ones . As its story can remember the great American series "True Detective" and especially the Spanish¨La Isla Minima¨ because they have similar situations with a misfit duo and two parallel outdoors : American Southern Mississippi against the background of the Spanish south and Andalucia, its Guadalquivir marshes , Coto Doñana and the Salinas De San Fernando in Cádiz, while in this 'El desentierro' (2018) is set in the Albufera Valenciana . It has emotional or aesthetic resonance , even comforting in some ways , and partly because is just more attuned to nuanced variations on what might appear to be mere formula. The plot is complex but plenty of thrills and surprises, as two cousins get together and they will go against the clock to find to track down the past of a father who suffered a sudden disappearance years ago and since then nothing has been reported about him, in fact some recent events could be related to his previous existence. This moving motion picture contains stylistic boldness and energy, its evocation of a particular time and place , adding impressive images corresponding to Sueca, Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, and its colorist Albufera. This intelligently made picture relies heavily on the complicated relationship between two disparate characters who have their own secrets, being well played by an Jan Cornet and Michel Noher . Support cast is pretty good such as Francesc Garrido, Raúl Prieto, Jelena Jovanova, Cavadzade, Jordi Rebellón, Cristina Perales and the always excllent Ana Torrent.

In ¨El Desentierro¨(2018) stands out two expert professionals, the composer Arnau Bataller who composes a thrilling and intriguing score, as well as Javier Salmones who provides a colorful but very dark cinematography. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Nacho Ruipérez . It won various prizes and nominations, such as: Spanish Audiovisual Awards : Arnau Bataller 2019 Winner Best Electroacoustic Music; Premis de l'Audiovisual Valencià/Valencian Audiovisual Awards Francesc Garrido, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Michel Noher, Jan Cornet, Nesrin Cavadzade, and Jelena Jovanova ; 2018 AVAV Winner Best Fiction Featur, Best Director Nacho Ruipérez; 2018 AVAV Winner Best Screenplay Nacho Ruipérez, Mario Fernandez Alonso; 2018 AVAV Winner Best Editing & Postproduction Teresa Font; 2018 AVAV Winner Best Production Design Abdón Alcañiz; 2018 AVAV Winner Best Production Manager Marifé de Rueda. Rating: 5.5/10.