Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano and Ramiro Garcia Bogliano
Screenplay: Adrian Garcia Bogliano and Ramiro Garcia Bogliano
Starring: Cristina Brondo, Camila Bordonaba, Berta Muniz, Mirella Pascual
Release Date: September 22, 2011 (Fantastic Fest, Austin, TX)
PENUMBRA is a moody little slow-burner from Argentina that utilizes it’s slow pacing to build tension over the course of it’s slim running time to great effect. That is, until director/writers Adrian and Ramiro Garcia Bogliano completely fumble the ending, but I’ll get to that later. Up until that point, the film held my rapt attention using it’s excellently sun-bleached cinematography, slightly off-kilter characters and languid pace to construct an ever-mounting sense of dread and paranoia.
The film begins on the day of a total solar eclipse with a brief scene in which a young woman answers a “Help Wanted” ad, only to be lured into the basement by her would-employers and immediately drugged. We then cut to Marga (Brondo), an ambitious young real estate agent who is meeting a realtor at an old apartment she owns to discuss renting it out. Marga is very quickly established as an entirely selfish character who cares only about money and treats everyone she encounters as though they are beneath her. For the first hour or so the film unfolds in real time as she impatiently awaits the arrival of the realtor’s client, a mysterious man named Salva who is supposedly willing to pay four times what the apartment is worth if she will draw up the paperwork for him within the hour. Over the course of the film it becomes increasingly apparent that something sinister is going on as Jorge, the realtor, begins to behave more and more erratically, especially once his slightly off-kilter associates show up. Marga’s patience is persistently tested by a nosy neighbor woman, a psychotic homeless man who accosts her on the street, and an unsympathetic cop who takes the homeless man’s side. Despite the quite obviously unreasonable behavior of everyone she encounters throughout the day, they all treat her as if she is the one who is insane.
This flick is a bit of a tough sell, because as I write this I am beginning to realize just how little actually happens in it’s brief running time. The film is a spiritual cousin to Ti West’s superior HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, in that both films feature lead female characters who accept a deal that is too good to be true, and then take their sweet time allowing the characters and the story to breathe while establishing an incredible sense of unease that ties your stomach into knots. The big difference between the two are the locations and the general likeability of the leads. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL had a charming, down-on-her-luck protagonist unknowingly trapped in an isolated house in the country, whereas the apartment in PENUMBRA is in the middle of Buenos Aires and Marga is an utterly despicable person. Despite that, I was still on edge waiting for the horrible things I knew would inevitably come to pass.
And that, ultimately, is where the film falls flat for me. The final reveal of just what the cause is for all of the strangeness is absolutely underwhelming, mostly because I had it figured out within the first ten minutes. Okay, I’m going to have to spoil the shit out of this so here’s your warning . SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!
So just like in HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, Marga has accidentally run afoul of a cult planning on using her apartment to perform a ritual sacrifice. It isn’t made clear whether or not they are Satanists, as was the case in HOUSE…., and in fact the entire ending of the film is so frustratingly vague in it’s implications that it casts a negative light on everything that came before. At first I thought it was unusually cruel but fitting. But given enough time to ruminate on it, I’m just sort of pissed that the movie wasted my time. Once the filmmaker’s revealed all of their cards I kept waiting for them to do something to, you know, frighten me, but that moment never came. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL dealt with the same themes and gradually built to a conclusion that literally had me fearfully curled up into a ball on my couch.
While I found the film disappointing, I certainly hope it leads to bigger things for the Bogliano brothers. They display a deft handle on creating tension, and for such an obviously low-budget film it looks absolutely amazing. Unfortunately they could not find a satisfying way to pay off on everything they set up in the film’s first hour. PENUMBRA is not at all a bad film, and in fact at times I was absolutely engrossed by the story. It’s just a shame that the story doesn’t lead anywhere interesting.
My Rating: 6.5/10
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