The return of Damiano Szifron to the cinema, after the nine years that separate Misanthrope From wild tales, generated a capital expectation. Nor had he directed anything for television or streaming, and the desire of fans to do so the simulatorswho know that the series will have its movie by 2024 will certainly bring them to theaters in droves.
And no, you won’t be disappointed.
While Misanthrope It’s not the kind of film one would have imagined right after wild talesfull of irony and violence filtered with scathing.
But sarcasm doesn’t necessarily have to be conveyed by laughter, jokes, or jokes. AND Misanthrope It’s also, if you want to see it that way, a look at Hollywood, or at all that has happened to Szifron in its attempts to shoot under the premises of the film Mecca. nuclear man -project that never thrived- included.
Like any good movie Misanthrope allows you to analyze it from different perspectives. Because it has several layers and sieves.
Let’s see the beginning.
New Years in Baltimore. There are people, for example, who celebrate on terraced floors, in hot tubs, who travel outdoors in an elevator or skate on an ice rink. A serial killer will ensure that these celebrations do not have a happy ending, as they are slaughtered. Taking advantage of disguising himself in the roar of fireworks, the misanthrope of the title will shoot and kill dozens of people.
The police and the FBI
Eleanor Falco, policewoman (Shailene WoodleyFrom The descendants, Divergent, Under the same star) reaches the floor from where the killer fired. There, later, Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn, da bloodline AND Ready Player One), of the FBI. And he will detect a “something” in Eleanor, which leads him to recruit her, initially as a liaison between the police and the FBI.
As we said, this film can be seen as the intense search and hunt for a serial killer, hence the title in the US: To catch a killerOR catch a killer-. As it was The silence of the lambs, Exactly. One difference is the behavior and characteristics of the individual who carries out the murders, who is not the usual villain, or crazy. He is a misanthrope, a boy who despises human nature. And in the script he has his explanation of him, in a long character monologue.
because, moreover, Misanthrope It is one of the most text-filled films Szifron has made. Of course there are action scenes, witnessing the murders, but the central plot goes elsewhere.
Let’s go back to the above: it can also be seen misanthropeOR -its cinematographer is also the Argentinian Javier Juliá- like a film about the miseries of an institution, like the FBI or the police, with spanners in the works, jealousy, greed or lack of solidarity . Taking care of your back rather than fighting for the common good, which would be catching the killer, but with… worthy weapons.
And whoever commits these murders is not a terrorist, as Lammark explains, because no one takes responsibility for the facts. He is anonymous.
Just as Hannibal Lecter was eyeing Clarice Starling The silence of the lambs, and turned her like a glove, Lammark has the ability to read between the lines of Eleanor. Sure, Lammark is more like Jack Crawford, Clarice’s new boss at the FBI. Eleanor shares her putting her principles before everything about her, an unyielding tenacity and also intelligence.
Szifron demonstrates his mastery in constructing dialogue, in opening a character (Lammark, in his private life), and in filming action sequences with surprise, or with panache. This is a thriller, but also a drama, which has a certain relaxation of humor, but what is important, what transcends, passes through another area.
“Misanthrope”
Thriller/Drama. USA, 2023. Original title: Misanthrope. 119′, SA 16. From: Damien Sifron. With: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson. Rooms: Cinépolis Houssay, Recoleta and Pilar, Cinemark Puerto Madero and Caballito, Hoyts Unicenter, Showcase Belgrano.
Source: Clarin
