Generally
speaking, it was prudent to be polite to people connected to the establishment during
the mid-1970s in Argentina. Alas, the man who causes a scene with Claudio, a
well-respected provincial lawyer is not prone to prudence or politeness. His boorish
behavior precipitates a crisis that haunts the counselor during the months to
come in Benjamín Naishtat’s Rojo (trailer here), which screens
during this year’s First Look at MoMI.
Everything
goes to heck during the first act, but first comes the prologue, wherein a
seemingly respectable suburban house is stripped of its furnishings by the
seemingly respectable neighbors. This house will also have a call-back later in
the film. For now, Claudio is patiently waiting for his compulsively late wife
at his table in a crowded restaurant. An angry, slightly-hippyish outsider quite
begrudges him his table and the privilege it implies, as he makes clear in no
uncertain terms. Claudio will relinquish the table but he gives the stranger
such a brutal dressing down for his lack of good breeding and adequate socialization,
the aggrieved younger man will come looking for Claudio after dinner.
One
unlikely thing leads to another and before you know it, Claudio is taking the
man on a late-night drive deep into the desert, where he will be permanently
deposited for sake-keeping. Claudio’s life proceeds uneventfully (just the way
he likes it) for a few months and then it suddenly gets complicated. First, a
social acquaintance recruits him for a scheme to profitably acquire the abandoned
house from the prologue. Next, Sinclair, a celebrity detective from Chile
arrives to investigate the disappearance of the man from the first act. Tangentially,
they are both connected. Thematically, they are also symptomatic of the
pre-coup moral malaise.
Rojo is considered
Naishat’s most accessible film to date, but there are still moments when the
dramatic awkwardness borders on the outright surreal (like there’s a touch of
Yorgos Lanthimos in there, but nothing close to the full Lobster). Nevertheless, he incorporates some legit thriller
elements, while executing the political morality play with a surprisingly light
touch. This is definitely an off-center film that is often disconcerting, but
it is also highly watchable.
Dario
Grandinetti shows impressive range as Claudio, from the grand moralizer who
obliterates the angry man’s self-image to the craven weasel dissembling and prevaricating
under Sinclair’s questioning. Diego Cremonesi is bitterness personified as the
angry mystery man, while Alfredo Castro gleefully chews the scenery as
Sinclair, like an infernal cross between Det. Columbo and Inspector Javert.
Naishat
definitely captures the dingy tackiness of the 1970s as well as the overheated tenor
of the times. It is an odd film, but Naishat lands his punches and brings it
all together down the stretch. In many ways, it is considerably more effective than
the Oscar-winning The Secret in Their
Eyes. Highly recommended for moderately adventurous viewers, Rojo screens this Sunday (1/13), as part
of First Look at MoMI.
