How much of a self-fulfilling prophecy is there in certain Netflix hits. It is true that being present in the initial menu of the platform does not guarantee a hit, but Never underestimate the power of convenience about the qualities of possible interest. That Spanish thrillers consistently succeed suggests that either we have an infallible industry or that they are the least complicated option.
However, they usually cause a sensation already released. In that aspect, ‘Infiesto’ was presented as something quite different because its trailer drew attention in a very intense way. Its pandemic context gave an interesting layer to a mystery in rural Spain that had to be solved by the detective couple. The result at the level of visualizations has been undeniable. The cinematographic result is more questionable.
An evil floats in the environment
Set in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, two inspectors have to go to an Asturian town to investigate the appearance of a young woman who had been presumed dead. The development of her work will take her to very dark corners of the mountains of northern Spain and also through the mining regions, showing that disease is not the only evil floating around.
The latter is more of a promise than a reality. Patxi Amezcua offers a thriller that tries to clearly distinguish itself from other productions platform stockings. the photograph of Joshua Inchaustegui gives a special texture and color to ‘Infiesto’, a great and unexpected quality seeing how most of the originals end up being so similar to each other that it seems like a shared universe.
It is a decision that is undoubtedly appreciated, and it means that her ambitions of being a cañí heiress of ‘Seven’ do not fall on deaf ears. At least not at all. Her detective couple gives us a good hand to enter this world, but also falls too much into the functional. The development of his mystery, with his cards glued to his chest, is nothing too special and even counterproductive.
‘Infiesto’: agile but wasted thriller
The pandemic context is also a whimsical decision. Even with the alibi of dealing with the first days of the State of alarm, it is impossible to suspend disbelief in the face of certain behaviors related to this pandemic, giving the impression that it is an element introduced a posteriori that could not be introduced organically .
His way of advancing sometimes comes to be somewhat hasty, not wanting to give room for boredom but killing any possibility of interesting drama. It helps him not to exhaust himself, fulfilling his mission in 96 minutes, but also leaving the same throwaway feeling that we can find in other films such as the Baztán trilogy. A missed opportunity to give something really different inside Netflix.
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