Neve nera

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 .

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...

After the death of his father, Marcos (Leonardo Sbaraglia) and his young pregnant wife Laura (Laia Costa) travel from Spain to Argentina to see his estranged brother Salvador (Ricardo Darín) to discuss the inheritance left by their father. He visits his sister Sabrina (Dolores Fonzi), who is inmate of a psychiatric institute, and the old family friend Sepia (Federico Luppi), who tells Marco and Laura that a Canadian company offered nine million dollars per their land in Patagonia, where Salvador lives alone in a cabin as a hermit. Marcos also receives his father's ashes with the request to be buried with his son Juan. Salvador is accused of murdering his brother Juan in a family hunting many years ago when they were adolescents and then he was scorned and abused by his father along his life. Marcos and Laura are not welcomed by Salvador, and she learns that the Canadians have offered eleven million dollars to the brothers. However, Salvador is not interested in selling the lands and asks them to leave his house. Marcos and Laura are surprised by a storm and Marcos crashes his car in a snowbank, and Laura decides to return to Salvador's house where a tragedy happens, and dark family secrets are disclosed.

"Nieve Negra", a.k.a. "Black Snow" (2017), is a disappointing Argentinian-Spanish movie about dark family secrets. The storyline is not bad, but there are points that destroy the film. The non-linear screenplay does not work and is annoying, and the slow pace makes some parts boring. The characters are awful, and Marcos (47 years old in 2017) looks like the father of Laura (32 years old in 2017). When the dark secrets are disclosed in the end and the viewer learns what happened to Juan, the plot improves. But Laura, with her expressionless face, hides them and the viewer will certainly question whether she is a greedy woman that forced the incident to have 11 million dollars. The cinematography is very beautiful but the open end destroys the plot. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Neve Negra" ("Black Snow")

First of all, you will need to get over the fact that the lead couple look more like father and son than husband and wife. No chemistry at all between them, but that's really not a huge hurdle because this is not a romance. The story held promise, but eventually it became clear the writers really had no idea how to progress the plot in a believable manner. You will roll your eyes, and you will be disappointed. One part was just so ridiculous I had to watch it several times to make sure it actually happened. All revolves around a dark family secret that came about because of another dark family secret. It really should have worked, and in more capable hands it would have.

Two very good Spanish actors who really carry this movie. And they don't even have really a lot to work with. Well it's not that the story itself isn't interesting. It has its moments, but there could be more and I do believe that most people will see where this is going, long before the ending shows us.

So Black Snow is a Drama, that really tests your patience, especially if you are used in tighter and fast paced story telling. In this case it's well done technically and as mentioned, the actors carry their load. But all that does not help elevate this movie to a place this could be. So you could say, some people are rightfully disappointed because of their expectations ... Otherwise just enjoy a little "mystery"