In the Shadow

Beautifully shot in Puerto Rico with excellent performances by Jorge Sermini and Michelle Keffer and a nice cameo by Danny Trejo. In The Shadow at first seems to be a horror film but don't wait for the killer to jump out from behind the tree, it has a slower more satisfying build than that. It's really a film about people and their struggle to escape their pain, or at least find a place to hide from it, with layers of the supernatural applied in perfect moderation. It's rare to find a genre film that devotes as much time to the story of it's characters as to elements of surprise or SFX. In The Shadow delivers on all fronts and is more than worth the watch. With elements of a horror, thriller and character study In The Shadow can't be pigeonholed into any one genre but delivers just enough in each to leave you satisfied with the whole.

I got to watch this at Cine las Americas in Austin and I really watched it because Danny Trejo is in it. I'll watch anything that guy is in. I'll have to say his part is really short so that was disappointing but he played a "santero" and that was real cool. I liked the film though, I had to think a lot but it did not go over my head. It was shot in some part of Puerto Rico and I told my girl I wanted to go there at some point. The acting is good and it did have some scary moments. The director said on the Q&A that some non actors were employed so I thought that was cool cause I could not have been able to tell. It's cool to watch independent movies that don't follow trends. More Danny Trejo next time!

Writer/director/producer Nicole Elmer, also a talented fiction writer and musician, delivers a beautifully lensed drama that's a bit outside the typical horror or psychological drama. In The Shadow, set in modern day Puerto Rico, brings us Diego, an unwilling healer, known in his coastal community to have the very real power to negotiate with Death that everyone wishes for, prays for, when faced with tragedy. It's a power that comes with a price. When an American documentary filmmaker, Hilary, crosses into Diego's world, the narrative comes alive as the two reveal just how complex their lives are. Unlike the trend in many depictions of female characters in horror or dramas, Elmer imbues Hilary with agency; In The Shadow is just as much about the complexity buried deep within the lives of every person walking the face of the earth as it is about the surface narrative of conflict between Diego and Hilary. Elmer and her collaborators on In The Shadow balance gender politics, cultural disconnects, and interpersonal magnetism into a visual story that resonates.

It took me a little while to adjust to the lyrical pacing of this film, but this film is so gorgeously shot, and the story put together in such an unusual manner that I was along for the ride.

I first saw the film at the Cine Las American film fest, so I had the advantage of watching it on the big screen. The director, Nicole Elmer, really pays attention to the world the lead actor, Diego, lives in as a healer. The environment plays a huge part. The editing style for the healing sequences is both dark and hopeful at the same time. I have not seen many films that have been edited like this.

If you like artful films, I would suggest taking a look at this. It's not like anything I've seen in a long time. And Danny Trejo plays a hermit to boot. Odd role for him.

This film is a bit of a mind twist and a strange take on horror. Most horror uses ample blood and guts, but this one tricks the mind instead of all the blood and guts, and the way they show the healing sequences with the lead character really goes everywhere visually. I think it is about quantum healing. The best thing is the cinematography which is really something. It left me thinking about it for a long time after the film was over. The film was shot in Puerto Rico in a small island. So some of the shots seem to go on forever.

I was really engaged in this film, and challenged. It made me think, and when films do that, it's good. More films should be as challenging, in a good way.