Intacto

Intacto (Intact) is a very fascinating film that keeps your mind busy trying to figure out what exactly is going on and how these games that are played in the film work. It's a very fresh and original film not revealing its exact intentions until the very end and one that looks very stylish and slick. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo who recently directed the sequel to Danny Boyle's hit 28 Days Later and together with Andrés M. Koppel has written the screenplay, makes that the story is kept surrounded by this constant mysterious atmosphere and only at the end the viewer comes to fully understand what has taken place and how far it was right to believe. Following a plot in which strange games are played that can only be won by the person who ends up being the most lucky, it's crucial that as a viewer you are willing to go along and play the game in order for the film to work. To provide yourself with that luck you have to collect the luck from others, which can be achieved by taking a picture of that person or by touching the person. It are some strange rules, but some that will keep you fascinated until the end. Like Tomás, one of the main characters who is lurged in into this some kind of secret underworld, as a viewer you also question whether or not to believe in the games and the foreseeing of the outcome. Bringing in some twist around the middle and at the end, you constantly are taken aback having to change your perceptions and realise not everything is as clear as it looks like and not at all that simple. Mixing both Spanish with English dialogue, Intacto has a very international feel, which is not only felt in this use of mixed language, but also in that it isn't exactly categorizable as being clearly European, but also has this somewhat American blockbuster feel to it, which makes you wonder how long it will take for US production companies to take notice and start making a Hollywood remake. Very much preferring the original and not at all encouriging to make remakes, it is one of those films that you could easily imagine being remade into Hollywood standards, using high paid actors and a famous director, because of the very solid and fresh story that should be able to draw in a big audience like for instance The Departed did for Scorsese. But because there's no big studio behind it, the film has passed by very much unnoticed. It's a pity for such a wonderful and intriguing piece of work that provides a real challenge and aks for some activeness from its viewer.

What is it about?

An old man living in a casino and who is of Jewish decent, having survived the concentration camps, is said to be the luckiest guy the world has to offer. This old man, Samuel, so far has managed to stay alive, the many times a gun was pointed at his face. Being part of a string of games, he is the final battle, the endgame that will show who, throughout life and its experiences, have come to gaine the most of luck. Instead of gambling with money, the players of these games play with other people's lifes. Once being a player himself, Federico, a man who survived an earthquake, comes to gain the trust of Tomás, who recently was the only survivor of a deadly plane crash. Taking Tomás under his wing he introduces the young man to this gambling world. Trying to gain the most luck to win every game, Tomás has to choose a person who he will take its luck from. Once having taken that luck by touch, a game is played, like one where they run through the forest, blindfolded, only having luck to trust on. The person who loses also loses his pictures. These pictures, like touching a person, inherit a person's luck by having taken a picture of them. The winner of the game goes on to the final stage, which is the meeting with Samuel, a meeting of life and death. Intrigued by the events and led into the game by once killing a man who tried to cross a street filled with traffic, being blindfolded, is Sara, a cop who survived a tragic accident which would have killed her. Having to wait and figure out whether or not Tomás will be the new luckiest guy in the world Federico expects him to be, Tomás has to manage to get through to the last round, having to win all of the games that precede it, which is a much harder task than Tomás ends up thinking.

Final Verdict: ****1/2

Intacto is a mesmerizing film, one that keeps you busy as a viewer until the end. It's a real puzzle which you can not solve if you don't watch it all. With a very nice pace the film unfolds its secrets and after a confusing start the direction the film is going to take slowly becomes more clear. Characters are introduced, but not by giving away everything immediately, but holding back some information that the viewer only comes to learn of some time later in the film. This way the film keeps the suspense level high. It's one of the films you have to be patient with and which asks you to wait. But because of the complex story you don't mind to wait. You don't want the film to rush over you, but be able to think, figuring out what the events that have happened really mean and what consequenzes they will have for the events to come. Intacto is a very solid mystery, directed very well and with good acting, but without a performance really standing out. Some scenes, like the car crash Sara was involved in look very good and realistic. And the scene where the players have to run through the forrest blindfolded, both has you filled with excitement as well as filled with questions of how they have managed to film the scene. With Intacto director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has delivered a very fresh piece of work that distinguishes itself by some great ideas, a strong plot, and the forcing of the viewer to participate in a story you have to be willing to believe in.