Despite several very disquieting factors about Chilean filmmaker Fernando Guzzoni’s story about a dysfunctional father/son relationship, the drama does nevertheless make for compelling viewing.
For most of the week 18 year old Jesús (Nicolás Durán) is left alone to his own devices in Santiago whilst his father (Alejandro Goic ) is away working, and rather than go to school or even get a job he chooses to fritter his time away hanging out with his mates. He lies through his teeth to his father when he returns and is always inventing excuses to try and con some more money out of him.
Jesús and his pals spend all their time getting wasted on anything they can get their hands on, and randomly pick up girls to have sex. On one of their very many drunken nights out they stumble upon a half conscious gay man in the park who they mock and taunt before they literally beat the living daylights out, leaving him for dead.
When Jesús wakes sober the next morning he sees on the TV news that the boy they attacked is in critical condition in the ICU department at the Hospital. Panicking he turns to his best friend Pizaro (Sebastián Ayala), who had also been one of the assailants too, and they comfort each other by having sex together.
Over the next few days as the victim’s condition worsens and they are large public vigils in the park where the attack had taken place, Jesús gets even more worked up, especially after Pizaro has shared the fact that he was contemplating going to the Police to blame the others, and now Beto the gang ‘leader’ comes to his house and threatens him. Jesús is now so scared that when his father comes home he tells him the truth and throws himself on his mercy as he now senses that he needs help to extricate himself out of the worsening situation.
The finale of this coming-of-age drama/thriller is equally disturbing, and although it comes as something of a shock, on reflection it was the only way that this story could have ended. It is the fact that Jesús, and his pals actions are not those of a ne0-Nazi group of thugs like the Police had assumed, but simply because of their apparent and callous disregard for other peoples lives, that fills one with such loathing.
Guzzoni successfully builds up the tension of the whole piece by deliberately using sparse lighting for many of the scenes, and using some shaky hand-held camera work. The movie is also blessed with young Durán who puts in an extremely convincing performance as the self-centered and confused Jesús, for which he has already picked up a Best Actor Award.
Whichever you look at it, this is a harrowing and despicable story that is so powerfully told that it keeps one engaged to the very last frame.
Labels: 2017, Chilean, coming of age, full frontal nudity, thriller
