Nobody Knows Anybody

In Europa ,Spain seems to be the one country to have understood the American lessons for the thriller.France failed dismally because its directors tried too hard to sound American .Spain integrates Yankee savoir faire into a personal approach.Take "nadie conoce a nadie":it's Spanish to the core,with its Sevillian pageantry,its Holy week and its processions.This is a wonderful backdrop for a psychological eerie thriller.Eduardo Noriega -who starred in the two Amenabar peaks "abre los oyos" and "tesis" -is definitely the best Spanish actor of his generation.

Owing a lot to Fincher's "the game" ,"nadie conoce a nadie" shows some originality,particularly in its first part,when religion seems to be the center of the plot:Bunuelesque accents often emerge -but is there one Spanish director not influenced by the great creator?.The second part dissatisfies a bit ,because some plot twists are irrelevant (the girl's part is not convincing ),but the final is impressive .

A splendid cinematography,enhancing Sevilla ,and a tight directing,keeping sex and violence to the minimum, give the movie substance.

Although the plot seemed a little far-fetched I was determined to watch this as Gil, Noriega and Amenabar (loosely). I did find it watchable and intriguing whilst it was on but cracks were showing, as a fan of Noriega's I'd say it's the weakest I've seen him, the character just didn't seem that convincing, surely a writer could do better things with his writer's block than crosswords. The two-faced villain seems to have no tangible motive, I think Molla salvages something from this character but I just don't get him nor understand his insanity.

All in all I think at this time Gil was trying to make another Abre Los Ojos, probably wasn't the best way to go.

Absolutely nothing happens in this sloooow, annoying, thrill-less thriller directed by Amenabar's usual collaborator Mateo Gil. The film, which in some way deals with the effect of boredom and the quest for thrills, actually delivers none, and seems like an exercise in boredom. The only mildly suspenseful moment is the movie's climax, which takes about 30 seconds of the whole agonizing 100-plus minutes, and is resolved too simply. The plot lacks sophistication or credibility, and while the idea is original, the way the story unfolds is arbitrary and every plot device or twist is a result of outside interference (deus-ex-machina). The hero is always passive, everything happens to him without forcing him to show any initiative or resourcefulness. If you're fans of the genre, watch "Tesis" instead.

I got a deception with this one. Not because it was really a very bad film, but because something so much better could have been done here.

I arrived at it because i've been interested in Spanish cinema, and this one could strike me as something worth watching though not the best Sapin has to offer.

In comes in a line of Amenábar. Somehow closed thrillers, appealing to an inner search, resolving conflicts in abstract, living parallel worlds, parallel to a reality which is as "normal" as possible. It worked in "Abre los ojos" because of the dreamworld vs hell duality. Here the mixture is between various "strange" or "not normal" worlds:

• the always fascinating period of religious ceremonies in Spanish Andalucía.

• the "game" world, invented by Mollà's character, through which Simón (Noriega) will get at his inner struggle.

• Noriega, again playing his "abre los ojos" character, safe choice by the production, no risk

This is a failure, due to several aspects: one related to direction, which has to do with not being able to "hold" interest until the end, the film dies completely as the historical Seville center is exchanged by the Expo92 site. this leads me to second aspect, picking up Sevilla, in the moment of its more visceral, more mediterranean moment of the year, and building there an absolutely inner abstract Amenábar kind of story is a failure by principle. No story can hold against those strong traditions. You either make a picture "about" Sevilla, about religion, and insert content on that basis (it was following that path for the first half) or you detach the story from any perfectly identifiable context (example once more: Abre los ojos) and build whatever you want in that abstract/normal/universal etc. space. And in this second,you have to hold the viewer with strong thinking and fine construction. The first chance s more documented in a way, more "earth-to-earth", the second may (or not) work out more intelligent.

Anyway, trying to mix both was the failure here. OK, Amenábar's soundtrack, following Herrmann is good, works in the mood, there are good shots of Sevilla, exploring some places, and the overall production is quite good (Spanish is now and was already here in a great production level). But you have much better things to watch from this country. Anyway i'm still trying to find something worthwhile and which understands Sevilla, a fantastic city to which cinema hasn't been paying the necessary tribute.

My evaluation: 3/5 (holds only for the production, some beautiful faces, and the other good elements i mentioned)

A writer of crosswords of a newspaper of Sevilla is "recruited" to play in a lethal game in which he will have to do all his best if he wants to survive. It starts when he is suggested by someone to put the word "adversario" in his next crossword, he could not suspect what was going to happen in the city, in the middle of Holy Week, when he decides to start the game. With great actors, great screenplay and good directing; this is one of this films that keep you stuck into the sofa, in order to discover what is going to happen next. It is compulsory remark the spectacular scene of the battle with toy laser guns in the old part of Sevilla. A really good film.