Directed by: Gracia Querejeta
Written by: Luis Marίas
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Juana Acosta, Paula Echevarrίa, Luis Tosar, Asier Rikarte, Miguel Bernardeau and Raúl Arévalo.
Opening in a confessional, with Leyre (Maribel Verdú) attempting to explain to the priest her sins, Leyre asks the priest for reassurance, wanting to make sure of the sanctity of the confession, that her sins would not be passed on to anyone but God.
‘Honey, this isn’t twitter,’ the priest replies, setting the tone of the film.
A thriller and comedy is a strange mix and just asking for the ridiculous.
And the main character, Leyre, ex-wife to murdered husband and mother to sociopathic son, Asier (Asier Rikarte) who murders his father with a pair of scissors, is a ridiculous character: tripping over her high-heels and cleavage on show with every outfit. I found myself gritting my teeth at the ditzy behaviour.
Leyre attempts to cover-up the murder of her husband while her odd son is unable to absorb the seriousness of the crime, being a sociopath and all. She runs around like a neurotic that in turn, causes a crime wave across the city of Bilbao.
To try to blend the different styles of story, the comedy with the crime, the soundtrack is used to spark that recognition of detective, who-done-it movies, with brass raunchy outbursts (a little like the character, Leyre). Then we get classical for the son; the best music in the soundtrack for the entire film. But mostly, it’s that sleezy music that works as a devise for change of tone but didn’t absorb me into the film because it felt like it was trying too hard.
But there’s some clever here with some genuinely funny moments that I just haven’t seen anywhere else: Vanessa (Paula Echevarrίa) the current wife of the murdered husband, manages to include her hiccups into the manipulation of a conversation by explaining they’re a reminder from the dead husband because he used to always hiccup.
And the tape playing English lessons in the taxi as Leyre convinces the taxi driver (Raúl Arévalo) to help her establish an alibi saying, ‘I’m mad. I’m mad,’ Yes, the taxi driver is a little mad!
There are many moments of the highly amusing including the infatuation of lover boy (and Asier’s only friend), Julen (Miguel Bernardeau), with Leyre – constantly blowing his load while professing his undying love…
And the pace doesn’t let up.
We get the murder of douche bag husband, the coverup, the current wife in dodgy business with corrupt lawyer, Susana (Juana Acosta), the detectives investigating the crime with their own headaches in life and the taxi-driver / bad actor tricked into a false alibi. It’s nuts!
Of course it’s nuts. But also, a little brilliant.