THE PLATFORM

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Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

In the hope of earning a diploma, Goreng (Iván Massagué) volunteered to spend six months in a special self-management facility. It was a vertical structure with a rectangular hole in the middle of each floor. Everyday, a bountiful table of food and drinks was passed down from floor to floor. The ones at the top floors can get a hearty meal, while the two occupants of each floor going downward had to content themselves with less and less, until only empty plates were left at the lowermost floors. The inmates were shuffled from floor to floor every month, so everyone got a taste of feast or famine.

This was a very disturbing movie. This was not only because of all those disgusting scenes of eating messy leftovers, with all those unpleasant chomping sounds. There were also scenes of raw violence as the base instinct to survive of the inmates would overtake their civilized sensibilities. Goreng learned life lessons from the different people he met inside the hole: the ruthless Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), the altruistic Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan), the cheerful Baharat (Emilio Buale Coka) and the persistent mother Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay). At the end of all this exhausting chaos, there may after all a glimmer of hope, in an uncertain kind of way.

THE OCCUPANT

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Director: David Pastor and Àlex Pastor

Advertising executive Javier (Javier Gutierrez) could not find a new job. To cut costs, Javier had to give up his luxurious condominium unit, and moved to a cheaper apartment in the poor side of town along with his wife Marga (Ruth Diaz) and son Dani. Despondent, Javier stalked the new occupants of his former condo, the family of Tomas (Mario Casas), Lara (Bruna Cusi) and their daughter Monica. Pushed over the edge, Javier then concocted a complicated plot of deception in order to get himself back into the life he once enjoyed.

This was quite an uncomfortable movie to get through, like "Parasite" (2019) but without the comedy parts. This was because you were always aware of Javier's evil machinations and you see it come to fruition to destroy the life of hapless Tomas. The role of pervert gardener Damian (David Ramirez) provided some more tension in the story, which frequently saw Javier's plan coming together so perfectly. Despite the discomfort, you'd be held in to the very end to see the ultimate outcome. Javier Gutierrez played his namesake character Javier with such an unruffled icy coolness, it was an understated yet extremely compelling performance.

MARK OF THE DEVIL

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Director: Diego Cohen

A philology professor Cecilia (Lumi Cavazos) brought home an ancient book to study over the weekend. However, her two curious daughters Camila (Arantza Ruiz) and Fernanda (Nicolasa Ortíz Monasterio) secretly read off some Latin passages written on the pages. Unknowingly, they activated an ancient curse. A drug-addict priest-exorcist Fr. Tomas (Eduardo Noriega) and his wild urban cowboy ward Karl (Eivaut Rischen) were called in to help the demon possessing the girls.

This was a B-grade horror film of the exorcism sub-genre from Mexico. The acting of the entire cast was purposely over-the-top in order to bring to life very poorly-written characters. The worst of the lot was the absurd character of the chronically demon-possessed Karl which was simply on a level of incomprehensible campiness all his own. All the lame jump scares and the disgusting special effects could not lift the corniness of this forgettable project. There was even an extra scene in the middle of the end credits maybe to hint about a possible sequel, but no thanks.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."