Only 1 movie yesterday, a very light relaxing day all up. The movie was "Penumbra", a perplexing thriller with a last minute supernatural element. Being set in Buenos Aires, I was hoping to see some of this city but the action completely occurred within an apartment building and on the street outside. A young and fiesty Spanish lawyer is in town for business and is trying to rent out an apartment she and her sister have inherited from their parents. When the agent is running late, Margarita heads upstairs, only to find the agent waiting for her at the door. Or so she thinks.... From the get go, you realise that something is not right with the "agent" and the suspicious behaviour builds up slowly, creating a lot of tension because you only find out what is happening as Margarita does. I would describe this as a slow burn thriller, as you are constantly worried about what the strangers arriving at the apartment are going to do but you have no real clue about what's happening. Never boring (and I didn't feel sleepy once depite the almost 10:30pm start time - nothing ever runs on time with the BIFF{my only real complaint about the festival}) it had a strange power to draw you in, because really Margarita was quite an unpleasant individual and yet I still feared for what was coming. The ending left me pretty mystified and I hoped there would be an after credits explanation, but there wasn't. Chatting to a guy that walked out at the same time as me though revealed his theory which proved far more satisfactory than what I was thinking, so I came home feeling good that I knew what had happened. And relieved it was not a "boo" scary movie so I could feel comfortable walking to the car and letting myself in at home..... The events also took place during the day of a solar eclipse, which explains the name of the film which I googled today to discover its meaning is that part of the shadow where the light is partially blocked, but interestingly it also has a meaning in legal terminology of being a "grey area". The ending certainly was a grey area for me so it was well named! The funny thing about this movie was also the atrocious English subtitling and misspelling of words, hopefully it gets better treatment if it is ever released on DVD here.
Two more movies today - "Medianeras" what is hopefully going to be a gentle romantic comedy again set in Buenos Aires, and I think I might get to see a bit more of it this time. And then Cairo678 which will be an eye opener on Egyptian culture and women's struggle there to overcome sexual harrassment. Another interesting day ahead, possibly ending tonight with a repeat viewing of Bridesmaids on DVD which I think has been the funniest movie this year.
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