Marshland

Image: www.spanishfilmfestival.com

“In 1980, Spain emerges from the shadow of the fallen Franco dictatorship. Shady job opportunities open up in the emerging coastal tourist towns, luring teenaged girls from their hometowns. In the sleepy rural Andalusian marshlands, the disappearance of two sisters brings an unlikely pair of detectives down from Madrid. Pedro and Juan are the exact antithesis of each other. Pedro is young, progressive and forward thinking. Juan is part of Franco’s Spain. The extent of how active a role he played during the dictatorship is alluded to, and a source of disgust for Pedro. As the pair continue with their investigation, and the body count racks up, tensions between the two get in the way of the investigation.”

Unfortunately, the film doesn’t set any of this backstory up, and those attending the film are well advised to read the above paragraph before going, as barely any of this vital expository information is contained at the start of the film. The backdrop of political instability during the transition to democracy might be perceivable to Spanish audiences, but is likely to be lost on international audiences. This is not as problematic as the complete lack of character exposition – only at the end do we learn anything intimate about the main characters, and hence the dynamic between the two comes off as confused silences as opposed to grueling tensions.

Whilst many films fall into the trap of overwriting, this film is underwritten: either we learn nothing, or we learn it too late. There is no suspense to drive the story because there is no immediate or ongoing danger referenced (and we only learn the extent of how horrific the murders were at the very end.) Nor do we get to know any potential victims in an intimate way. The protagonists are clearly not in any danger themselves, as only young girls are targeted. On top of this, there are some laughably unbelievable moments, where we are expected to believe that a detective would throw up at the sight of a dead body at a crime scene, a young playboy would sneak into the car of 2 homicide detectives and hold a knife to their throat for no reason, a psychic would be included in a police investigation… consequently, we end up with a 100minute meandering narrative that feels a lot longer than it is, with motiveless characters sleepwalking through a series of disjointed scenes that lead nowhere.

What this film does well is mood and tone, due in large part to the deservedly award-winning cinematography of Alex Catalan and production design of Manuela Ocon. The swampy, suffocating small town is brought to life beautifully. Performances are strong across the board. Costume design is a tad too obvious and contrived. Editing is sufficient, although many of the problems with the chronology of the writing could have been fixed in the edit.

On the whole, this is a nice looking film that seems to lack commitment as to what the film wants to be about. The murder-mystery through-line is treated with such lackluster, you get the feeling that the relationship between the two police is supposed to be the main event. Though ultimately that relationship is so poorly exposed and reliant on clichés that that’s not particularly satisfying either. If you can handle a feature film length mood piece, this is for you, however most audiences in pursuit of story or character will be bored, confused, or both.