★★★
“Ship shape.”
Ines Robles (Intile) wakes from unconsciousness to find herself on board a boat in the middle of the ocean, with no memory of what happened to her. The rest of the crew are dead, apparently in a violent manner, and she’s unable to raise help on the radio. Worse is to follow. A party of British soldiers, under the “command” – quotes used advisedly – of a scientist, Doctor Claire (Alfonsin), arrive on board. Their intentions are dubious, and their actions even more questionable. However, it turns out that Ines has some unexpected advantages in the resulting battle, as a result of what happened on the ship, before she came round. Whatever that might be.
This is a small-scale item, which unfolds entirely on the confines of the boat, and does well at generating a dank and claustrophobic atmosphere. Without, please note, burying everything in darkness, like some film-makers think is how you go about creating that “atmosphere”. The other thing which was particularly interesting was its Argentinean origins. As soon as I saw the British soldiers arrive, I immediately made a connection to the war between the two countries over the Falklands in 1982. Not least, because a wall calendar on the ship is from that exact year. Though mostly because Ines is busy trying to survive, period colour is generally slight in the main. Until it isn’t. Look, I’m trying to avoid spoilers here, so pardon me if I am reduced to hints and vague waving of my hands.
It’s possible you might be able to piece together where things are going before the film explains things explicitly. Or, more or less explicitly, because I’m not sure all the pieces we are given, fit neatly into the scenario. For example, I don’t think it’s ever quite clear who (or what) was responsible for the deaths of Ines’s crew-mates. I’m guessing there may have been more to the experience they went through, than was shown on screen, or remembered by Ines. At least the film does a decent enough job of avoiding the cliches, such as having her memories come back as necessary, or Ines finding a convenient video diary left by another member of the crew.
Instead, it’s Freddie Mercury who leads to the moment of revelation for all concerned. And if that doesn’t make any sense, it’s probably all for the best. Sorry, more hand-waving. I will deduct some points for the poster, which does over-sell the contents to some degree. Ines never really “hunts”, certainly until the final few minutes (though it runs a brisk 72 in total, so is unlikely to outstay its welcome). If not quite what I expected from the advertising, it proved to be different in an interesting way, and I’m always prepared to cut a film for slack in that direction. I’d recommend going in with as few expectations as possible, and just go along with wherever the movie wants to take you.
Dir: Daniel de la Vega
Star: Verónica Intile, Carolina Alfonsín, Kevin Schiele, Raymond E. Lee