Review by
Blair MacBride
Directed by: Lorena Padilla
Starring: Francisco Reyes, Humberto Busto, Martha Claudia Moreno
Nominated for the much coveted Audience Award at this year's festival,
Martinez is a Spanish subtitled film, telling the tale of
an aging Chilean office worker, leading a solitary existence in suburban
Mexico. That is until a change of circumstance begins to alter his
secluded frame of mind.
Written and directed by Lorena Padilla, this rather unknown,
darkly comic feature is a definitive study of loneliness. Martinez (Francisco Reyes) is a bad-tempered, despondent old man. Living in a built up area
filled with a community of people means absolutely nothing to the
movie's surly lead. He looks out for numero uno, and outside of his
mundane office job, he does what he wants, when he wants. Indeed, with
never any family in the picture, he's completely free to do so.
Life begins to change for him, however, after two major events occur:
first, he's forced into early retirement by his company, and before
leaving, has to train up his plucky middle aged replacement Pablo (Humberto Busto). Second, his downstairs neighbour (who we believe to be around his
age) is discovered dead several months after her demise. Bizarrely,
after her flat is cleared and her things dumped outside, Martinez sieves
through them to discover more about a woman he never knew. It is
precisely by doing so that he ironically develops a taste for having
more of a personality that isn't cast from cold hard stone, and attempts
to better the man he has become in order to live a semi-positive
remaining existence.
Padilla's first feature is certainly an odd one. Stricken with
minimalist tendencies, Martinez has very little dialogue
in its first half, really honing in on its main character's loneliness
and isolation. What small amount of discourse is actually present
equates to being short, snappy and fairly unyielding. That coupled with
the film being a tediously slow burn, Padilla's style here - however
deliberate in mimicking Martinez's approach to his life in playing his
own tune to his own pace - is just a bit monotonous.
Reyes though - internationally known for playing Orlando in the Oscar
winning
A Fantastic Woman
- is sublime at portraying the cantankerous Martinez. His character's
dark, dry humour, obsessive behaviour and ultimate redemption arc are
well delivered by the actor, and it's truly refreshing to see a unique
performance outwith the regular casting circles of indie cinema.
One of an only three person cast, Reyes' co-stars also offer up some
very enjoyable acting as Pablo (Busto) and Conchita (Martha Claudio Moreno). Both of these other co-worker characters play into the already
stated study of loneliness. They have their own problems with walking a
companionless path: bachelor Pablo trying to hold down a sustainable job
in an effort to win over a disinterested woman; and Conchita, the office
gossip, vying for any conversation, any banter or attention she can get
from her coworkers as it's most likely the only chat she'll have in her
day - it's all quite sad. Nevertheless, all three have some great
synergy onscreen, and the film's funniest scenes by far come when
they're all involved together.
Despite the positives, it all gets a little derailed by the film's
structure and its methods of storytelling. Throughout the piece, the
plot seems to be going in an expected direction yet in a peculiar
fashion - Padilla, though, does it her own way and that is, in some way,
to be admired. The issues begin to arise, however, when things get all a
tad too bizarre due to slightly random occurrences coming out of
nowhere, going against the rest of the narrative grain. Not to mention
key plot developments being strangely double-backed on in the final
third, with the film then casually moving on towards its end as if
nothing ever happened.
In truth, Martinez is a peculiar one - a surprising
nominee for sure for the GFF 24 Audience Award. On the one hand you have
quite funny dark humour, an eclectic mix of chemistry in its triplet
cast, and a decent enough conclusion to its story. However, on the
other, it's hard to overlook the movie's slow nature and strangely
positioned backtrack on the plot. Indeed, while the film eventually does
get there in the end, it doesn't do it in the way that you'd either want
nor that makes you come away satisfied.
