Infiesto

This was an alright spanish thriller. Iv'e seen bettee but as far as im concerned this was still great. For me however the only thing that let this movie down really was the dubbing. I didnt understand why it was overally acted and it therefor made the script sound a little unpolished aswell. But looking past that lets get to the actual film. Its all about this young girl that turns up after being missing for three months. The lead detectives try to find out who was responsible for the capture and within this find out it might be part of even bigger thing. The cast of this movie were good and interesting to watch. The plot was pretty good and was entertaining. Overall a pretty good thriller.

The plot follows the investigative police thriller style. We accompany detectives Samuel and Castro around the municipality of Piloña, Spain, in their investigation. However, the plot itself is simple and devoid of twists. Its linearity becomes an issue when we reach the climax.

Part of the premise is that the investigation takes place at the time of the COVID pandemic, but that doesn't affect the plot. The pandemic is just a backdrop to the plot, present but indifferent. The plot tries to place the pandemic as a relevant factor, to the point of counting the days of confinement at the time when curfews and quarantines came into effect worldwide; the pandemic context seems to be just an artifice to attract an audience; the plot would remain the same without the pandemic.

In the end, the feeling is one of exploitation, a twist that feels forced. Nothing in the plot indicates that that would be the end, the plot just plays a trick, an Ex-Machina that connects all the points, leaving us with the bitter taste of disassociation. The insinuations, the theories, all falls flat.

The name of the film can only be premeditated. Infest.

With a linear and simplistic plot, marked by a meaningless and calculated twist, and appropriating a historical moment that does not interfere with the plot, Infiesto should only be proud of its sepia cinematography of a decrepit Spanish region. The atmosphere is tense and suffocating, but the story is thin.

Infiesto is s small mining town in the province of Asturias, in northwest Spain. The time is the end of winter, a dark, rainy, melancholic season. The lead characters are Inspector Samuel (male) and Subinspector Castro (female). The movie opens with the roadside appearance of a teenager, alive, kidnapped long ago and presumed dead.

The first half is rather good; it shows routine police work with frustrating leads, abundance of dead ends and uncooperative witnesses. It also shows in passing the heavy industry that pollutes the air and defiles the verdant, idyllic landscapes of Asturias with open pits, denuded hillsides and smokestacks.

However, the story veers midway into horror movie territory. Improbabilities and impossibilities pile up and, what could have been a good police procedural slides into the (unintentionally) funny. Direction, cinematography and acting are good, but they can's cope with the material. The time frame of the action is the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and this is brought into play but is mostly inessential to the action.

I was intrigued by the choice of a town with the strange name Infiesto. It is close to infesto (I infest) and to Infierno (hell), both pertinent to the happenings in the movie.

Entertaining movie but if this was lockdown why are the main characters not wearing masks? This is a disappointing aspect of this movie especially the hospital scenes.

The dubbing is unusual and slightly off putting, and possibly meant for a British audience rather than international. The landscape appears as a sepia visual possibly to denote the uncertainty of the covid lockdown anxiety.

It is surreal to see no one on the roads, as the main characters piece together the mystery of the abducted girl.

But it develops nicely along with the added bonus of good music to interpret the mood of the story telling.

I know that I am not a great fan of serial killers films. But there were great ones such as SEVEN of course, the best ever, and several other ones. But this one has nothing to remind of, nothing exceptional to remember. You have the unavoidable detectives duet and the rest is predictable, with the also unavoidable raining scenes, a cliché for serial killers films. No real surprise, if you have seen at least ten serial killer schemes in your life. I prefered THE PLAGUES OF BRESLAU, made in 2018. The only unusual thing is that it takes place at the beginning of the COVID plague, but is it useful to give quality to this flat movie? To enhance the interest to see it? I don't think so.