El desentierro

My luck ran out at the Spanish Film Fesitival with Nacho Ruipérez' El desentierro / The Uncovering which is protracted, hard to follow and nasty. This is a pity because it belongs to a nice cycle of moody regional Spanish thrillers of which La isla minima / Marshland is the best known.

It's another ones of these coming back from Argentina pieces where probing events of the characters' childhood disturbs dark half forgotten intrigues. The Mario Fernandez Alonso - Carlos Perez Gasco second unit work places the piece in the forlorn flat lands that give the piece atmosphere.

Back from being packed off with the religious teachers, Michel Noher returns for the funeral of his Valencian politician uncle Jordi Rebellón. He resumes his friendship with his cousin Jan Cornet (The Skin I Live In) and sinister events proliferate.

Flashbacks trace the involvement of Noher's father Leonardo Sbaraglia (Intacto) with a girl from the now derelict cabaret. Shots are fired. Old secrets uncovered and bodies exhumed.

It sounds better than it is - something like Pablo Trapero's La Quietud. Even so it's nice to see Anna Torrent still looking good in her brief footage.