Messer (2013) Poster

(2013)

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7/10
Great job in your first full-lenght film, Mr. Antolin.
InakiArias2 April 2014
It's not easy to write a review about a film in which the reviewer itself has been, somehow, involved. It's also difficult trying to be objective when most of the crew of the movie are Friends or acquaintances.

If I were to judge the quality of the product based just on the merits of an entirely amateur cast or in the lack of resources of the production, well, it should be a 10 out of 10 but for respect to everyone I will try to be as objective as I can.

Starting with the plot, it could be said the movie has two different parts and styles. Whilst at the beginning it's hard to find out whether the film is going to be a drama, a thriller or even a comedy, there is a point of no return in which the movie becomes a non-stop action-thriller.

The way the story is told by the writer and director Unai Antolín also has different sides.

Both the direction and storytelling are rather conventional in the thriller-action scenes but without imposture. He knows how to solve them efficiently and with great tact, honoring the classics without losing personality. However, in no-action scenes he eludes the stereotypes and deals with the challenge of giving his personal touch. The result is in overall noteworthy, specially when you have a strange sensation of uneasiness watching a theoretically "relaxed" scene. And vice-versa...

On the other hand there are a few moments of the film which break a bit the rhythm, the pace of the film . The kind of moments which get the spectator out of the film.

Following with the direction work, if I tell you that the movie was recorded with a single handy-cam you probably would not believe me and that is because not only Unai have the talent to place the camera properly in every sequence, there are a lot of moments in which the result seems to be a work of an entire camera crew.

The acting is sometimes irregular, sometimes amazing, a logical thing taking in account the amateurism of the staff, but in overall is quite satisfying. Jagoba Trujillo, as Messer, makes a great performance, specially when his character shows his weaknesses and his humanity. Also keep an eye to Guillermo Landabaso and Eli Jaular's acting. You can say their characters are specially written to fit with their personalities but it's a fact that there is a lot of hidden talent within them .We will see in future productions.

The OST meets the purpose with a rather nice, melodically strong main theme.

In conclusion, if you can forget the extremely low Budget and the unavoidable limitations related with that fact you probably will enjoy a lot with this movie. This is still not a masterpiece, less a flawless film, but it has a lot of strong points and shows a huge potential, specially from his author whom, don't forget, this is his first full-lenght movie.
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