Cell
phones and the internet have undercut some of the traditional elements of mysteries
and thrillers, but a locked room is still a locked room. Adrián Doria would
know. He came to while locked in a hotel room with the dead body of his former
mistress. That was super awkward. Nevertheless, the former rising star of
Spanish industry might beat the wrap with the help of his expert trial
consultant. However, he will have to tell her the full ugly truth in Oriol
Paulo’s The Invisible Guest (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Philadelphia Film Festival.
Apparently,
Doria and his former lover Laura Vidal were lured to the hotel, by someone
blackmailing them with evidence of the first killing. Okay, Doria will have to
back-up a little for the benefit of his witness prepper, Virginia Goodman and
the audience. Most likely, all his troubles started on the drive back from his
final assignation with Vidal. Swerving to avoid a deer, they fatally run
another motorist off the road instead. Since, he was dead anyway, they just disposed
of the car and body.
Oh,
but of course, it couldn’t be so simple. There was maybe, possibly a witness or
two. Plus, as a supreme irony, Vidal found herself face-to-face with the young soon-to-be-missing-under-mysterious-circumstances
man’s parents, when his retired engineer father volunteered to fix her stalled
auto.
Paulo
clearly enjoys springing surprises and dropping shoes on the audience. Yet, in
this case he starts with a pretty twisty premise, in that the exculpatory
circumstances of Doria’s prospective testimony might be just as damning.
Presumably, that is why he needs a good trial consultant.
The
first half-hour of Guest is rather glum,
but once it has all its pieces set up, it is jolly entertaining to watch Paulo gleefully
knock them over. He has a lot of tricks of his sleeve, some of which will make
guffaw with disbelief, but it is still great fun watching him try to pull them
off. You just have to go with it and enjoy getting played.
Anna
Wagener is just terrific as Goodman. Smart and righteous in a good way, she
makes her a trial consultant worthy of Agatha Christie. Likewise, José Coronado
seethes with quiet power and dignity as the outraged father, Tomás Garrido. Bárbara
Lennie is also quite remarkable giving Vidal, the presumptive femme fatale,
subtly different shadings with each successive flashback. Mario Casas is a bit
of a blank slate as Doria, but anyone would be passive while getting the lectury
third degree from Goodman.
