This is a Spanish film about people who have the ability to steal other people's luck with a touch. As a concept, it's not new but they handle it pretty well. They do a great job highlighting the psychological turmoil it would cause someone to realize that they are only alive because they robbed someone else of their chance. From a cop who survived a horrific car accident at the cost of her husband and child to a guy who survived the Holocaust as a child, at the expense of...well, everyone else, it's a very select world that Tomas Sanz finds himself born into, after being the only survivor of a plane crash.
His guide, Fernando, is looking for someone with enough luck to challenge The Jew. Contests of blind chance are set up ranging from the benign (opening a box with a bug in it and seeing who it lands on) to the you'vegottabefuckingkiddingme (Russian roulette with only one empty space). Prizes are houses, cars, and then people. Taking a picture of someone allows you to steal their luck, to use them until they die.
Tomas is initially skeptical, then amused at the thought of trading on his luck. That is, until his girlfriend's picture ends up in the pot. All of a sudden, it's no longer fun and games.
It's a bizarre little film that treats a supernatural thing very normally, which I like. These people are more like criminals or fetishists than superheroes. Plus it's got Max von Sydow. You really can't go wrong there.
No comments:
Post a Comment