MARSHLAND (15, 104 mins)
Drama. Javier Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, María Varod, Perico Cervantes, Jesús Castro, Jesús Carroza, Ana Tomeno, Nerea Barros
Director: Alberto Rodriguez
RATING: FOUR STARS
MARSHLAND (La Isla Mínima) has won comparisons to Se7en and True Detective but this slick Spanish thriller also includes a nod to the Coen brothers’ classic Fargo.
The film follows two detectives – Pedro (Raúl Arévalo) and Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) – sent to a ghost town in a swamp in Andalusia, southern Spain, to hunt a serial killer who has killed a growing number of teenage girls.
In one gripping car-chase scene, Pedro is engaged in a speedy pursuit of a white car at night down a dark remote road when – Fargo-style – the rear lights in front of him suddenly vanish and the car is gone. It’s just one tense scene in a remarkable film.
The events are set in 1980 post-Franco Spain and the two cops are polar opposites who find themselves thrown together to track the killer.
Juan has a murky past in what is referred to as 'Franco’s Gestapo’, while fresh-faced Pedro is an ideologue who rebels against authority and hates the fact that the Spanish military 'still has power here’ – in Juan’s words.
The wetlands setting of barren countryside, swamps, winding waterways and paddy fields is stunning – aided by some brilliant aerial shots. The detectives find themselves in a town that seems haunted and their enquiries see them caught up with drug dealers, a shady handsome teen called Quini and the clairvoyant Angelita – who warns Juan that death isn’t far away.
As well as the cars and the moustaches, there are other touches that take you back in time – from the massive clunky tape recorder used to tap phones to a paparazzo's darkroom and said snapper’s desire to become 'the next Truman Capote’.
While Juan and Pedro are called down south after two sisters, Carmen and Estrella, go missing, it soon emerges – after the girls’ bodies are found in the swamp – that a host of other girls have also vanished and only various body parts have ever been discovered.
The cops speak to school friends of Carmen and Estrella and it turns out that the sisters wanted to get out of this town that time forgot. 'Who doesn’t?’ says one of the girls.
The investigation leads Juan and Pedro to a hunting lodge, where Juan reverts back to his Franco days and roughs up the landlady when he suspects she’s not being as cooperative as she could be.
And when another teenage girl, Marina, seems to emerge as the scumbag predator’s next target, the detectives start to think they are getting closer to catching him.
The two lead actors are utterly convincing (although the paparazzo’s beard isn’t), the music is excellent and Marshland is slick, stylish and full of suspense – everything you’d want from a good thriller.
:: Marshland opens at QFT Belfast today and runs until Thursday August 13 (QueensFilmTheatre.com).
