And
now Sebastián Silva presents the second part of Michael Cera’s Chilean
vacation. This was the film they
intended to make all along, but when the financing temporarily bogged down,
they whipped up Crystal Fairy to pass
the time. While Silva’s Magic Magic is a darker, more intriguing
work, it was probably too art-house for genre patrons when it screened as part
of the Park City at Midnight section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Alicia
has come to Chile so she can visit her cousin Sarah, who is just so gosh-darned
thrilled to have her there. Alicia seems
a bit high maintenance, which is not what Sarah needs right now. Having some private business to tend to,
Sarah pushes Alicia off on her boyfriend Agustín and some friends leaving on a
coastal vacation. Something about Alicia
brings out the absolute worst in the sexually confused expat Brink, but the shy
and clumsy (perhaps deliberately so) Alicia gets on everyone’s last nerve. It is mutual.
As Agustín’s friends mock and complain about Alicia behind her back, her
mental state begins (or continues) to deteriorate.
Minor spoiler
alert: By
far the biggest disappointment of MM
is the lack of a violent death for Cera’s Brink. Considering how unpleasant he is (just as
annoying as his character in Crystal
Fairy, if not more so), he really has it coming. In fact, Silva disregards most of the
principles of EC Comics, avoiding genre scares in favor of slow brooding
atmosphere. Something is definitely off
in MM, but Silva lets it all emerge
slowly.
In
a weird way, MM closely parallels
Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills,
right down to its ambiguous third act.
However, the climatic event makes logical sense in the Romanian film,
whereas in MM it rather comes out of
left field.
As
Brink, Cera is bilingually irritating, which is sort of impressive,
really. As Alicia, Juno Temple is a
perfect portrait of arrested development (if you will) and emotional
neediness. She is just all kinds of
trouble. She also takes the Sundance
honors over Cera and Silva, having appeared in three films at this year’s
festival (also including Lovelace and
Afternoon Delight). To her credit, Emily Browning brings some
presence to the underdeveloped role of Sarah, whereas the Chilean characters
are even more undistinguished, seemingly on hand just to rub Alicia the wrong
way.
