Intruders
Plot: John (Clive Owen) and Susanna Farrow’s (Carice van Houten) daughter, Mia (Ella Purnell), is being haunted by a ghostly figure that goes by the name of Hollow Man. He’s also haunting a young boy named Juan (Izán Corchero), with Father Antonio (Daniel Brühl) trying to fight the demon. As John digs into the Hollow Man’s origin, we learn that the two children have more in common than just a haunting.
Review: “Intruders” has a chilling premise, but doesn’t know what to do with it. Maybe the screenplay, written by Nicolás Casariego and Jaime Marques, was more detailed and polished. Once it got into the hands of the director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, it’s message got lost in translation. I’ll give Fresnadillo credit; he does wrap everything up by the end. It’s just not satisfying.
Maybe nothing got lost in translation and I’m searching for a problem that isn’t there. This would be fitting, given that’s how John feels at one point in the film. A psychiatrist handling his daughter’s mental state after an intruder breaks into their home believes he and his daughter share the same paranoia. They even have video footage of him attacking an intruder that isn’t there.
So far, so good. It’s not until Fresnadillo reveals more information on Hollow Man that the apparition loses his dread. It doesn’t help that his CGI animation is lousy and clunky. Nor does Juan’s ordeal with the creature, which is soiled by weak performances. When you have to compete against Clive Owen, you’re bound to pale in comparison.
“Intruders” has a few things working in it’s favor. The aforementioned Owen (who even makes the unintentionally hilarious nightmare bonfire work), as well as a strong performance from the young Ella Purnell. Fresnadillo does build some good tension and the cinematography (done by Enrique Chediak) is gorgeous! Though this helps in spots, the film never overcomes it’s weaker aspects.
Final Rating: C+
Avé
Plot: Avé (Angela Nedialkova) meets Kamen (Ovanes Torosian) while hitchhiking. Since the two seem to be traveling to the same destination, they share rides together. Avé begins making up stories about her and Kamen along the way, which tend to spiral out of control. As time passes, the two begin to bond, though it’s hard for Kamen to trust Avé.
Review: “Avé” suffers from a major identity crisis. The first half hour is a lighthearted comedy, with Avé’s stories eliciting laughter (as does Kamen’s reactions). Then, the film switches gears to a straight-laced drama. From here on out, Konstantin Bojanov wants us to take everything seriously. It’s not that this is a hard task. It’s just that I never got on board due to the sudden change.
I may be stretching it a bit. I did get on board closer to the hour mark. Given this film is only eighty minutes, that was too little too late. It doesn’t help that the drama pales in comparison to the comedy from the first half hour. Bojanov and Arnold Barkus knew how to write comedy brilliantly, but stumble when it comes to the heavy dramatics. I’m trying to withhold judgment too much on this front, as it’s possible the sudden shift in gears clouted my opinion. If that’s the case, the film still suffers immensely from anemic direction.
What I did appreciate about the sudden shift was the character development of both Avé and Kamen. We learn that Kamen was hitchhiking to his friend’s funeral (an element that feels dramatically forced at times), while Avé is seemingly looking for her brother (keyword being seemingly). While Kamen resents Avé at first for her constant lying, he slowly warms up to her. While it sounds predictable that the two would fall for each other, Bojanov handles it in a way that feels more organic.
While the character development (and the acting, for that matter) are swell, they’re undermined by the drastic change of tone. I know I keep going back to the well on this, but that’s for good reason. I kept wondering why the film began as a comedy, if it was going to take such a dramatic turn. Both can exist in the same film (hence the term dramedy), but they have to coexist. You can’t switch from one to the other. If Bojanov’s intention was to make a drama, he should have done that from the start. He teased us with a comedy, which turned out to be better than the half baked drama the film turned out to be.
Final Rating: C+
The Misfortunates
Plot: Gunther Strobbe (Valentijn Dhaenens) recounts his life as a child (Kenneth Vanbaeden) growing up in a reckless home. His father, Celle (Koen De Graeve) is a raging alcoholic, as are his uncles. They all live with their mother, who looks after Gunther.
Review: It should come as no surprise that “The Misfortunates” is based upon someone’s life. Felix Van Groeningen adapts Dimitri Verhulst’s autobiographical novel (entitled “The Shittiness of Things”) and brings it to the screen with gusto and calculated care. To call the film outlandish would be an understatement. Yet, all of the crazy antics (ranging from a naked cycle race to men in drag) are handled with affection.
It’s strangely touching how uplifting and heartfelt this film can be. Despite seeing men become violent when drunk and having the protagonist initially walk out on his pregnant wife, there’s a certain zeal to it. It’s encouraging when you see a family who constantly bicker to stand up for each other when others push them around. It’s relatable to almost every family (and kind of reminded me of the Bundys from “Married With Children”).
It should be stated the film is also extremely funny! It’s a comedy at the forefront with an emotional structure to it. If anything, the film I reviewed earlier, “Avé”, could have learned a few things from “The Misfortunates”. Groeningen never switched gears from comedy to drama. He simply allowed both the comedy and drama grow organically with one another. There are even moments in the film that are deadly serious, yet still elicit a chuckle. Not forcefully, just organically from the situation. A good example is when a child protective worker (whose name elicits one of the film’s best jokes) to take Gunther away from Celle. He becomes violent towards his son and family, yet there are still a few lines that made me laugh. They’re not intentional. It’s just the way the characters speak and deal with their problems that does so naturally.
The true plus of the film is the direction of the family. They never feel like caricatures. They feel realistic, which they are. This makes all of their actions (such as singing along with Roy Orbison) much more funnier and dramatic. It’s sad that someone had to go through so much turmoil to produce this, but I’m selfishly thankful for it.
Final Rating: A
La Leyenda de la Llorona
Plot: Legend has it that Llorona lost her children many years ago and now haunts a small village and abducts their children to cope with the pain. A group of investigators (a young boy, an old man, a ghost girl, skull faced twins and a dragon) head to the village in the hopes of finding the abducted children and putting Llorona to rest.
Review: “La Leyenda de la Llorona” is kind of like a Mexican “Scooby-Doo”. You have a Mystery Gang that travels the country in search of legends to conquer. Though there’s no talking dog, we do have a talking dragon that gets into a lot of kooky antics. Accompanying him is an old man, who you could argue is like a balding Shaggy. The ghost girl is stuck up like Daphne, while the young boy is brave like Fred. The skull twins are nothing like Velma, nor is the little girl in the village who loses her brother. We’ll just say Velma lost her glasses and missed this film in search of them.
While the film isn’t as fun as an episode of “Scooby-Doo”, it is cute! The characters are nicely written and the humor (heavy on the slapstick side) will keep children entertained and adults will tolerate it. Alberto Rodriguez keeps the humor coming fast and furious, giving the film a pleasant pace. He even uses humor to douse any fear children may have of Llorona or the demonic puppets on Puppet Island. There are two devilish ones that combat with the skull twins, but always have their plans backfire on them. One instance reminded me of an episode of “Looney Tunes”. The demons planned on dropping a huge rock on the twins, only for it to bounce off a tree branch and land on them instead.
The animation is a little less polished than the humor. While there are times when it looks pretty, the backgrounds tend to have an unusually cheap 3D animation to them. Considering the rest of the film is hand drawn (which I appreciated), this comes as not only a surprise, but a nuisance. Why have the background be different? Possibly a loss in the budget and time, so they rushed it? It’s not a common occurrence, so it doesn’t drag the film down too much. It can be an eyesore when it does rear it’s ugly head.
The humor and jovial tone of the film (all things considered) make up for the occasionally weak animation, as well as the clunky subtitling. I enjoyed the characters, even the little girl who tiptoed on the line between adorable and annoying. From my research, it shows this is a sequel to “La Leyenda de la Nahuala” and Rodriguez hints at another adventure. I for one would be down for that!
Final Rating: B