devikamenon
Joined Jun 2016
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devikamenon's rating
I landed back in Spain again, not a difficult task because Netflix Espana is apparently going gangbusters. This time, it was in the beautiful rural setting of Extremadura, a village named Yesques where creepy things are underfoot because people keep disappearing. Then there's that huge forest with a wolf population. There's the strange village annual parade where villagers enact 'lost souls' in animal costumes...
But that's not where we start. No, it's young Madrid doctor Clara we focus on first. When she suffers a collapse and gets a new heart, she becomes obsessed with the idea of leaping over legal boundaries and finding everything she can about her donor. And that is what leads us to the village, to the mother of dead boy Carlos.
Now Carlos's death too is deemed mysterious. His ex, Maria, claims he drove his car on purpose over that bridge. But there's MORE tragedy: Carlos's father Miguel, a policeman, has disappeared too. Miguel's partner Rafa has an unsavory uncle who may or may not be implicated in a fire that's burned down his old house and his ex-wife with it...but wait, that was years ago, because, alas, there is a split timeline to contend with.
You see, this was the directorial decision I have issues with. Shaky focus on who our lead actually is. Carla arrives in the village due to a donated heart, and the bond she forms with the donor's mother is thoughtfully paced. And this was a pretty darn strong reason or narrative thread for us to follow. But then we have to keep jumping back to 2004 in order to understand why Miguel first became obsessed with a certain suspect, then disappeared himself. (ALSO there is a third storyline from 1979.) So then why even bother giving Carla a new heart? The lead might as well have been Maria, Carlos's ex. She was already in the village, and we wouldn't have had this misleading heart thing to meander through.
The other bothersome element was the nauseating violence. I simply wanted to scream at a scene late in the penultimate episode, where I couldn't believe we were being made to watch this. My sensitivity is surely going up the older I get. Granted it was not handled poorly, but yeesh! And other small niggles via unnecessary red herrings cropped up, but weren't disastrous for the viewing experience.
But they did manage to keep me watching until the end, so that is something. Just that with a tighter narrative focus we might have been better off. The fine performances and spectacular rural Spanish scenery do elevate the goings-on when they get bogged down, too, so that is a plus. But I am now very ready to watch something lighthearted, something whimsical, even. Enough of murders, women being hit, people disappearing, fires, abductions, aaargh! I have my eye on something already and shall report back on that shortly.
But that's not where we start. No, it's young Madrid doctor Clara we focus on first. When she suffers a collapse and gets a new heart, she becomes obsessed with the idea of leaping over legal boundaries and finding everything she can about her donor. And that is what leads us to the village, to the mother of dead boy Carlos.
Now Carlos's death too is deemed mysterious. His ex, Maria, claims he drove his car on purpose over that bridge. But there's MORE tragedy: Carlos's father Miguel, a policeman, has disappeared too. Miguel's partner Rafa has an unsavory uncle who may or may not be implicated in a fire that's burned down his old house and his ex-wife with it...but wait, that was years ago, because, alas, there is a split timeline to contend with.
You see, this was the directorial decision I have issues with. Shaky focus on who our lead actually is. Carla arrives in the village due to a donated heart, and the bond she forms with the donor's mother is thoughtfully paced. And this was a pretty darn strong reason or narrative thread for us to follow. But then we have to keep jumping back to 2004 in order to understand why Miguel first became obsessed with a certain suspect, then disappeared himself. (ALSO there is a third storyline from 1979.) So then why even bother giving Carla a new heart? The lead might as well have been Maria, Carlos's ex. She was already in the village, and we wouldn't have had this misleading heart thing to meander through.
The other bothersome element was the nauseating violence. I simply wanted to scream at a scene late in the penultimate episode, where I couldn't believe we were being made to watch this. My sensitivity is surely going up the older I get. Granted it was not handled poorly, but yeesh! And other small niggles via unnecessary red herrings cropped up, but weren't disastrous for the viewing experience.
But they did manage to keep me watching until the end, so that is something. Just that with a tighter narrative focus we might have been better off. The fine performances and spectacular rural Spanish scenery do elevate the goings-on when they get bogged down, too, so that is a plus. But I am now very ready to watch something lighthearted, something whimsical, even. Enough of murders, women being hit, people disappearing, fires, abductions, aaargh! I have my eye on something already and shall report back on that shortly.
The premise seemed intriguing enough, once one clicked into the title having been lured in by the cover graphic: a young contract killer/gardener in Spain whose boss is his MOM? OK, so I got pulled in.
In the first episode I was left a little disappointed. The young guy Elmer, you see, suffers from a lack of emotion brought on by a traumatic head injury at age six. Now, somehow, he is not only a gifted gardener *DREAMY GARDEN AND SKETCHBOOKS* but is also going around injecting poison into people's necks per Mama's instructions. And what a ghoulish bat this one is! Mexican by birth, for reasons unknown she left that country to settle here, in Pontevedra, Galicia. By all accounts she's built a decent life: a flourishing, indeed, award-winning nursery, and full-time devotion to the boy Elmer.
Then what's all the nasty business about? The writers, cads that they are, would have us believe that Senora China is SO desperate to get back her ancestral casa in her native land, that she's been milking Elmer's lack of empathy to make them piles of under-the-table cash. Clients just keep showing up wanting this one or that one put away forever. Ergo, Elmer and his needle of neon-green stuff. Once injected into the unsuspecting victim, it's the gardener's van and then - shudder! - interment in the said dreamy garden. Corpses, you see, are the best fertilizer. A fact that I was happy to live without knowing, but that's what comes of watching Netflix.
Now the twist in the tale. One fine day, Elmer's emotions start flooding back. He faints in the town square, is rescued by a beguiling miss, and bam! Off we go falling in love, etc. Mama, upon knowing this, is less than pleased. For what does Elmer do but refuse to kill little miss Violeta. Had I neglected to mention that V is none other than the latest contract accepted by Mama? Yes, just this one more little hit job and Mama and son can both earn just that needed amount to make their getaway back to Mexico.
Ay, dios! Or even, I daresay, egad! The reason for Elmer fainting and overnight becoming Emo Elmer, you see, is a tumor in his brain. That brain, zonked out of emotion all those years ago, now is brimming with the FEELS. Naturally the doctors want to take the tumor out. But wait. Now that Elmer has Emotions, he refuses! The foolish boy in the throes of first love would like to continue in that state, thank you very much; he has no intentions of going back to being the robot that he's been thus far.
Sigh. Apart from all this neuro-nonsense, I thought it was a pretty okay scenario. I mean, what we saw of Violeta turned out to be less than stellar, a nice case of deceptive appearances. (Someone who names their dog Milky is perhaps to be viewed with utmost suspicion anyway.) Then there are the two cops who are playing footsie while trying to deduce missing person cases in their small town. The younger one does something incredibly stupid which in the end denies them the prize of catching Elmer and Mom, but leave that aside. Centrally, there's the dark and creepy hold that Mom has on Elmer; not unlike a fly in a spiderweb, we witness the kid struggling to get out.
These three threads are adequately balanced, but there is some narrative drag via repetitive sequences. Then the cops' dalliance subplot could have been neatly excluded. Plus, the elephant in the room: WHY does China force the killing business on her son when they are doing so well with the nursery? WHY does she so desperately want to return to that house when her son has grown up here in Spain so far from Mexico?
The actress playing Mama grated on me with her voice and overly heavy mannerisms. The boy Elmer didn't convince me of his emotional flatness because he relied too heavily on bug-eyes. The others were serviceable; Violeta was fine, the cops fine, the client who wants Violeta killed, fine. All in all, I enjoyed the glimpses of small-town Galicia in the winter. I appreciated the slightly different framing device even if it wasn't expertly handled. I was grateful for the fact that I was able to keep watching for all six episodes-with the help of the trusty fast-forward button of course, heh heh.
Verdict: 5/10. Can watch for the hell of it and to maintain Spanish listening comprehension, no great loss if not watched.
In the first episode I was left a little disappointed. The young guy Elmer, you see, suffers from a lack of emotion brought on by a traumatic head injury at age six. Now, somehow, he is not only a gifted gardener *DREAMY GARDEN AND SKETCHBOOKS* but is also going around injecting poison into people's necks per Mama's instructions. And what a ghoulish bat this one is! Mexican by birth, for reasons unknown she left that country to settle here, in Pontevedra, Galicia. By all accounts she's built a decent life: a flourishing, indeed, award-winning nursery, and full-time devotion to the boy Elmer.
Then what's all the nasty business about? The writers, cads that they are, would have us believe that Senora China is SO desperate to get back her ancestral casa in her native land, that she's been milking Elmer's lack of empathy to make them piles of under-the-table cash. Clients just keep showing up wanting this one or that one put away forever. Ergo, Elmer and his needle of neon-green stuff. Once injected into the unsuspecting victim, it's the gardener's van and then - shudder! - interment in the said dreamy garden. Corpses, you see, are the best fertilizer. A fact that I was happy to live without knowing, but that's what comes of watching Netflix.
Now the twist in the tale. One fine day, Elmer's emotions start flooding back. He faints in the town square, is rescued by a beguiling miss, and bam! Off we go falling in love, etc. Mama, upon knowing this, is less than pleased. For what does Elmer do but refuse to kill little miss Violeta. Had I neglected to mention that V is none other than the latest contract accepted by Mama? Yes, just this one more little hit job and Mama and son can both earn just that needed amount to make their getaway back to Mexico.
Ay, dios! Or even, I daresay, egad! The reason for Elmer fainting and overnight becoming Emo Elmer, you see, is a tumor in his brain. That brain, zonked out of emotion all those years ago, now is brimming with the FEELS. Naturally the doctors want to take the tumor out. But wait. Now that Elmer has Emotions, he refuses! The foolish boy in the throes of first love would like to continue in that state, thank you very much; he has no intentions of going back to being the robot that he's been thus far.
Sigh. Apart from all this neuro-nonsense, I thought it was a pretty okay scenario. I mean, what we saw of Violeta turned out to be less than stellar, a nice case of deceptive appearances. (Someone who names their dog Milky is perhaps to be viewed with utmost suspicion anyway.) Then there are the two cops who are playing footsie while trying to deduce missing person cases in their small town. The younger one does something incredibly stupid which in the end denies them the prize of catching Elmer and Mom, but leave that aside. Centrally, there's the dark and creepy hold that Mom has on Elmer; not unlike a fly in a spiderweb, we witness the kid struggling to get out.
These three threads are adequately balanced, but there is some narrative drag via repetitive sequences. Then the cops' dalliance subplot could have been neatly excluded. Plus, the elephant in the room: WHY does China force the killing business on her son when they are doing so well with the nursery? WHY does she so desperately want to return to that house when her son has grown up here in Spain so far from Mexico?
The actress playing Mama grated on me with her voice and overly heavy mannerisms. The boy Elmer didn't convince me of his emotional flatness because he relied too heavily on bug-eyes. The others were serviceable; Violeta was fine, the cops fine, the client who wants Violeta killed, fine. All in all, I enjoyed the glimpses of small-town Galicia in the winter. I appreciated the slightly different framing device even if it wasn't expertly handled. I was grateful for the fact that I was able to keep watching for all six episodes-with the help of the trusty fast-forward button of course, heh heh.
Verdict: 5/10. Can watch for the hell of it and to maintain Spanish listening comprehension, no great loss if not watched.
Imagine you are one of four partners of a highly successful technology firm. Imagine that you become frustrated with the government spending of your hard-earned tax money in your country, Spain, and decide to overcome the problem by committing tax fraud and stashing away millions in secure Swiss accounts. Now, the Spanish tax authorities smell a rat and are about to pounce on your clandestine accounts et al. You are all certain to go to jail for at least seven years. But. There is a way out. If one of you takes the fall, not all need to be imprisoned. One can save the other three.
How do you decide who makes the sacrifice?
This is the premise of the hot-off-the-press drama 7 Años. It premiered on the 28th of October, and thank you Netflix for bringing us this first original European Spanish production.
So, the four friends and business partners are Luis, Veronica, Marcel, and Carlos. Rather astutely, they hire a mediator to help them solve their conundrum. (Jose the mediator has a rather thorny task, obviously, but he's offered a cushy sum for his troubles.) The very fact that the four have hired him at all tells us something about them, and as we progress in this tight 77-minute drama, we see more and more of these characters.
Read full review at: https://devikamenon.blogspot.com/2016/11/foreign-movie-friday-7- anos.html
How do you decide who makes the sacrifice?
This is the premise of the hot-off-the-press drama 7 Años. It premiered on the 28th of October, and thank you Netflix for bringing us this first original European Spanish production.
So, the four friends and business partners are Luis, Veronica, Marcel, and Carlos. Rather astutely, they hire a mediator to help them solve their conundrum. (Jose the mediator has a rather thorny task, obviously, but he's offered a cushy sum for his troubles.) The very fact that the four have hired him at all tells us something about them, and as we progress in this tight 77-minute drama, we see more and more of these characters.
Read full review at: https://devikamenon.blogspot.com/2016/11/foreign-movie-friday-7- anos.html