The
Basajaun is sort of like a Basque Bigfoot, but it has more positive
connotations, as a fabled protector of the forests. Naming a serial killer
after it is culturally insensitive, like a “Kokopelli Killer” would be in the
American Southwest, but what does the media care? Maybe, just maybe, there is a
Basajaun tangentially involved in Amaia Salazar’s case, but it is her own
family who will really complicate the investigation in Fernando González Molina’s
The Invisible Guardian (trailer here), which screens during the Recent Spanish Cinema series in Los Angeles.
Salazar
is from Navarre, but she has been gone so long many now consider her an
outsider. She had her reasons for leaving, including profiling training with
the FBI in Quantico. That is why she has returned. As the lead investigator on
a serial killer case, Salazar quickly determines their suspect may have been
active over seven years earlier. For some reason, the killer temporarily went
dormant, but the monster has re-awakened and refined its M.O. The “Basajaun
Killer” now strategically places a local pastry on the victims’ bodies. Rather
awkwardly, the txantxigorras are very much like the ones baked in Salazar’s
family bakery, now managed by her estranged sister Flora.
The
case really hits close to home when Salazar’s ineffectual, anti-social
brother-in-law through her other sister attempts suicide, under dubious
conditions. She manages to clear him of formal suspicion, but in doing so, she
sticks her neck out. Weird things bordering on the uncanny seem to be afoot and
her flashbacks to the abuse she suffered as a child unnerve her even further.
At least she can count on back-up from Johan Etxaide, an honest local copper
and the wise counsel of her fortune telling grandmother and her FBI mentor now
assigned to New Orleans.
Guardian is probably best
classified as a thriller, but at times it knocks on horror’s door. This is a
massively moody and atmospheric film that makes the most of Navarre’s narrow,
ancient streets and the dark and murky surrounding forests. Molina keeps the
tension cranked up, periodically flirting with supernatural elements to kick it
up even higher. A midnight tarot reading? Sock it to us.
As
the emotionally scarred but assertive and proactive Salazar, Marta Etura makes
a rock-solid, sympathetic and believable sleuth-protagonist. Itziar Aizpuru is
also terrific as her granny, Tía Engrasi, especially in their slightly spooky
scenes together. Colin McFarlane adds some coolness in his all-too-brief scenes
as the sage FBI instructor. However, Guardian
is really distinguished by intangibles, like vibe, tactile “feel,” and
general mise-en-scene.
