Nieve negra

Decent mystery thriller with plenty of twists , turns and a suspenseful finale . This is an acceptable flick about Marcos (Leonardo Sbaraglia) and his wife Laura (Laia Costa) go back to Argentina to bury the ashes of his father , there Marcos receives an important offer by a high-powered businessman called Sepia (Federico Luppi) . But Marcos has to convince his brother , the shy as well as grumpy Salvador (Ricardo Darin) , to sell the cottage and lands they share by inheritance from their recently deceased father . After several decades without watching , Salvador who was accused of murder his brother long time ago , is , nowadays , a revengeful and angry person . As the unsociable Salvador is an upsetting and depressed man who lives isolated at an inaccessible location in the middle of Patagonia . But events are about to get even worse when dark secrets return . Would you be able to keep a secret?

This ¨Black snow¨ contains complex mysteries , emotional thrills , suspense and a depressing finale . Hitchcock style psychological mystery , being passable and professional but hardly directed . This is a highly mysterious and cerebral thriller , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected denouement in its final part . As there takes place the ruthless as well as violent crossing among siblings and in which being revived the the old confrontation where the characters of killer and victim are changed over and over again . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . However , the picture turns out to be slow-moving and sometimes tiring , including a difficult pacing , though at its ending finale it gets better , at last . The cast is frankly good , such as Leonardo Sbaraglia as the astute brother who comes to convince to sell the lands that they share by inheritance . Top-notch Ricardo Darin as the unbalanced , unhinged brother who lives alone in the middle of Patagonia and who still stands accused of murdering his brother during adolescence . And Laia Costa as his beautiful sister-in-law with whom has a particular relationship . Support cast is pretty nice such as : Federico Luppi as the selfish businessman , Biel Montoro as young Marcos , Liah O'Prey as young Sabrina and Mikel Iglesias as young Salvador . Special mention for Dolores Fonzi at a brief acting as the nutty Sabrina locked at a asylum .

The film was compellingly produced by a Spain/Argentina team as Axel Kuschevatzky , Fernando Riera , Manuel Monzón , Fernando Abadi , Adolfo Blanco , Maria Luisa Gutiérrez , Javier Beltramino , Pablo Bossi , all of them have financed a great number of hits in the new Spanish/Argentinean cinema . This increasingly potent thriller displays a colorful and luxurious cinematography by Arnau Valls Colomer . This fine cameraman photographs perfectly the cold environment , set in the middle of a lonely , snowy place , being filmed in Spain , Patagonia in Agentina and some frames were filmed in Andorra searching for real snow attempting to substitute the Patagonia . Furthermore , a stirring and thrilling score by Zacarias De La Riva . This new film by writer/director Martin Odara was compelling and professionally directed . Odara previously realized short movies , and worked as Second Unit Director or Assistant Director , such as : ¨The aura¨, ¨9 Reinas¨, ¨La Edad Del Sol¨ , ¨Secret of the Andes¨ , ¨Faro Del Sur¨ , ¨Caza De Eichmann¨, among others . Being this his second film , the first was : ¨La Señal¨ with Diego Peretti , Carlos Bardem and Ricardo Darin again . ¨Black Snow¨ is well worth watching and it packs several thrilling as well as suspenseful scenes .

Another brilliant performance by Ricardo Darin. It is unfortunate that few know about him beyond Latin American film goers. He is so good in diverse roles!in each and every film!

Spanish actress Laia Costa swept us off our feet in "Victoria." Here she plays a more somber role.

Leonardo Sbaraglia teams up with Darin again after "Wild Tales" as the car driver who gets into a tragi-comic road rage entanglement. all great actors.

It's a film of superb performances. The story is secondary. The direction, tertiary.

Black snow, or red snow, would be more appropriate, from the beginning we are sure that the sinister happened, and it's not like it was resumed, avalanche, accidents (?!?! I don't think so), a wonderful production, great script, gradually unraveling the mystery, through flashbacks, leaving us curious, captivating, the truncated relationship between the brothers, until, finally, the outcome, predictable (maybe), tragic, cold (like the blizzard climate), intelligent, sad, excellent latin production...

Huge disappointment. I don't know if the director, producers and writers don't find the way to deliver the correct message or they don't know how to put the right pieces of the puzzle or even use the right flashbacks at the right time. I won't lie, I was expecting a huge movie in part because the producers have in these movie the pleasure of count with the two best argentine actors in the 21st century and in my opinion two of the best latinamerican actors that probably will never make the final step to Hollywood (sadly for us, hope I'm wrong) and they don't put a plot that exploit the skills of Sarabaglia/Darin. I can't complain about the setting/scenario. Excellent, and in part save the movie that cold/cruel environment along with the fog, mountains and the final 25 minutes of the movie. I recommend these movie to you only if you're a fan of Sbaraglia/Darin or if you like Argentinian films, otherwise you won't find anything useful in these movie.

Black Snow smoulders with unspoken feelings and undiscovered plot. The lead characters ooze broodiness and secrets, as does the whole situation the characters find themselves in. If you like noir films then Nieva Negra is well worth exploring. There's fine acting from the three leading actors. Wear a hat and jumper though; the realism and suspension of disbelief will have you shivering in those snowy mountians.