Guillermo Del Toro directs Oriol Paulo's mystery script in 2010
Hints of the supernatural hide in the textured script of a complete thriller.
Blindness is a thriller trope of course but I won't refer to the medical "explanatory difficulties" as inconsistencies or plotholes because guess what… it's a thriller and an entertainment. Of course, there are convenient plot decisions (the stool, the CCTV). But I don't want to watch somebody in rehab for nine months. I want them to tell their story at pace.
And there's plenty of story.
And plenty of pace.
It drips atmosphere.
Scriptwise it does lever in a jarring line (three times it came, three times it made me wince - rule of 3). Perhaps the line sounds better in the romance of the Spanish language than in the translation that a poetic Yorkshireman reads to himself. But at least, as with everything on show here, there is a purpose to it (even if I don't fully approve of the closing situation).
It took two of us to piece it together just before the close and still there were surprises.
The universally convincing Spanish actors make me lament about English actors I see cast on TV, picked for features other than ability.
Who would enjoy this? Sunday night mystery lovers who are OK with a healthy dose of horror.
One-line review: Super Spaniards showing us again what mystery thrillers are.
9/10
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