Picturenose

All bets are on

Having recently watched and enjoyed 28 Weeks Later (2007) - which far outstripped 28 Days Later (2002) in my humble opinion - I got to wondering just why I like the sequel better than the original. I realized pretty soon that it was the mood of the film, alongside some pretty tight camera work. Looking at the credits, I saw the director was one Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, someone I have to admit I’d never heard of. This is not surprising as he’s only made something like four movies. I can’t vouch for the other two, but from what I’ve seen he certainly deserves a lot more work.

One of the other three movies Fresnadillo has been involved in is Intacto (2001) - a curiosity in and of itself. The plot follows the lives of four ordinary yet extraordinary people, all linked by fate and, more importantly, by a common theme - luck.

Luck doesn’t exist, of course, does it? Well, maybe not in any tangible sense, no, but watching this film could quite possibly be enough to convince you otherwise. There is nothing in the way of special effects, camera trickery or CGI involved, yet Fesnadillo contrives an atmosphere that is positively cloying. The question I asked myself was “If these people are all so lucky, why are they not the happiest people in the world?” As you watch the events unfold, you come to realize that luck, by its very nature, can be ephemeral and fickle, and that living your life by it brings as many problems as it does rewards.

The camera work is by turns gritty, sweeping, tense and often downright beautiful in its execution. One particular scene really stands out for me though. As part of a competition between some of the “luckiest” men and women alive, they are blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs and must run at full speed thorough a dense forest. The whole scene will make you feel very uncomfortable.

The story itself appears simple. Frederico (Eusebio Poncela) has a run of luck at the casino owned by Samuel (aka “The Jew”) (Max von Sydow). Samuel hugs him and wishes him well, but Frederico knows that by doing this, Samuel has robbed him of his luck. Bent on revenge, he takes on a known criminal - and sole survivor of a plane crash - Tomás (Leonardo Sbaraglia). When Tomás leaves hospital, a detective, Sara (Mónica López) is hot on his heels. She too has had her fair share of luck, having survived a car crash and is soon much deeper into the plot than she could have imagined. The fourth character, Alejandro (Antonio Dechent) has a reasonably large part but seems a little superfluous.

The quality of acting was above average. Nobody turned in a truly heart-stopping performance but it was well played and well timed. Max von Sydow was by far the most enigmatic and moving, but I felt that he could have appeared to be more involved with the rest of the cast. The idea that he lives in isolation is fine, but he did seem to have been something of a second unit project.

That luck will conquer all is in some way inevitable, although the final payoff may not leave you believing it. The games they play are for high stakes indeed, but you’ll just have to see it to find out what they are. Samuel is the luckiest person in the world but, when you hear his story, you’d be hard pushed to believe it.

108 mins.