[●REC]
Posted on June 8, 2009 - Filed Under Film | 2 Comments
I saw two films in the last two days. One was a multimillion dollar non-event featuring Christian Bale acting all pissed off and grumpy about having to contend an absolute mutt of a script, and the other was shot with only a basic hand-held camera, a very limited budget and a talented band of unknown actors, one of whom is the amazing/beautiful/awesome/zOMG-I-LOVE-HER Manuela Velasco.
[●REC] follows the basic formula of horror/action POV films such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield in that the film starts out as a mundane documentary of something inconsequential and then camera crew suddenly find themselves thrust into something unexpected and unwelcome. In [●REC], Velasco and her cameramen are shooting a documentary of a disappointingly boring local fire department when a report comes in of an old woman trapped in her apartment. Starved of anything better to do, the two reporters accompany a team of firefighters to the building and wind up desperately trying to fend off…
For once I’m going to be discreet in a film review, because I really think that people ought to see this movie. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, sure, but as these films go it’s exceptionally well-made. The camera style is employed creatively and is never abused by the director, and the film feels incredibly real, especially in the middle section when Velasco and her cameraman spend their time interviewing residents and recording the disputes and the general confusion surrounding them. Then, when [●REC] finally ratchets up the anxiety for the finale, it’s pretty much no-holds-barred brutal. I usually hate films that rely on suspense, and the final 15 minutes of this are as stressful as anything I’ve seen (bar The Blair Witch Project, which is so effective it almost made me sick the first time I saw it), but the tension is mingled with a possibility (hope?) that maybe Velasco will escape her predicament.
She really is magnetic (and not just because she’s in almost every shot, since her cameramen is tracking her). I would have watched her spend 74 minutes dragging out a documentary of a sleeping fire department, in Spanish subs. The rest of the cast is good too (the bald fireman who looks like Dan Andriano from Alkaline Trio deserves particular mention), but she’s really the beating heart of this gem of a film, and you all should make an effort to see it.
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Agree. Surprisingly good film.
She’s a good-looking girl alright.