‘The Wait Review: A GenreJumping Exercise With More Style Than Substance
In a director's statement to La espera , F. Javier Gutiérrez describes his latest film as "a slow-burn supernatural neo-Western set in 1970s Spain." It's certainly an apt summary, but it also highlights the film's central problem. it tries to be many things at once and thus becomes less than the sum of its parts.
The Spanish director's 2008 debut Before the Fall attempted to combine a disaster movie with a home invasion movie, but the results were equally patchy. In both cases, Gutierrez demonstrates a keen sense of style, but fails to create anything truly original despite changes in the genre. With its world premiere in Oldenburg, additional dates in Sitges and Fantastic Fest, the film may find a small theatrical audience in Spain while providing decent broadcast content for international thriller fans.
I'm waiting
The point is that it's a powerful method for finding stronger stories.
In the first half hour , "Waiting" introduces us to Eladio (Victor Clavijo), a confused hunter who agrees to protect the estate of squire Don Francisco (Manuel Moro) in the great Andalusia. He takes his wife Marcia (Ruth Diaz) and son Flora (Moises Ruiz) with him, creating a new life for the family on a remote ranch that Don Francisco has leased to hunters hunting wild pigs.
The neo-western vibe is present from the start, with cinematographer Miguel Angel Mora capturing sunny Spanish landscapes in elegant wide shots before turning his attention to extreme close-ups of Eladio and his son together.
But this atmosphere did not last long. Florence's death leads to a terrible accident that leads to her mother's suicide and drives her father into an alcoholic frenzy, where he not only sees strange visions, but begins to discover all sorts of grisly evidence: a slaughtered chicken, a goat's head buried inside. . the soil, human fingernails in a bowl of beef soup, pieces of clothing wrapped in barbed wire - everything suggested that this could be the work of the devil.
Hence the “supernatural” part, which takes up most of the second half of “Waiting” and also leaves viewers in the dust. Gutierrez never manages to create a compelling protagonist; Eladio is a man of few words, but he thinks and feels little except sadness, so we never think about his plight when all the terrible things begin.
Sometimes the director improvises an entire plot involving foreign voodoo that is not at all convincing or scary, adding unexpected twists of their own. It also cannot use time frames. There's a lot to be said for Spain under fascist rule in the 70s, as it appears there purely for aesthetic purposes, allowing for plenty of neutral tones and faded vintage suits.
Despite the narrative obstacles, the director demonstrates a certain command of style and tone, especially in the staging of some of the film's set pieces. It's the slow burn aspect that favors still frames and numerous cutscenes rather than quick confusion; it provides a clear grammar of nonverbal actions and is easier to read than the plot itself.
Gutierrez made his Hollywood debut in 2017 in his universally critically acclaimed directorial debut , The Ring . I hope that Waiting, a film worthy of a good director, will allow him to move on to something more ambitious and, hopefully, more exciting. , exists at some point in the future.
