El lodo

Hopes of a tense crime piece drawing on a regional setting, on the model of MARSHLAND, are set up in the early stages of director Iñaki Sánchez' 2nd feature but elements like the Eco. Plot and remote, canal-rutted setting give way to familiar melodrama - the pill popping wife, dead child and swarthy, menacing locals who stand about while we wait for them to mutter "We don't like strangers here!"

Fresh from saving a wetland in Brazil, bearded agronomist Raúl Arévalo arrives at La Laguna Blanco where the water levels are dropping each year. Local matriarch Susi Sanchez tells him these are good people. (always a bad sign) We know the appealing dog, that we don't see enough of, is a goner and Arévalo's distrust of all those shot guns will prove justified.

Park Ranger Joaquín Climent, who is disturbingly tolerant of poachers, carries off the acting honors though spooky home help Susana Merino registers firmly enough to liven up the ending. The accomplished Roberto Alamo is wasted and Paz Vega, making the transition from glamorous to serious, just comes over as grating.

Drone shots of the terrain, driving the roads through its marshes and herons circling at dusk help but they'd be more effective if they were less murky.