THE HIDDEN FACE

LA CARA OCULTA is the second movie from acclaimed Columbian writer and director Andrés Baiz. It debuted in 2011 and finally reaches these shores courtesy of Metrodome Distribution under its English guise THE HIDDEN FACE.

A hugely talented young Spaniard called Adrian (Quim Gutierrez) should have the world at his feet. He fought of stiff competition to be chosen as the conductor for the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra. His new life in the Columbian capital is completed with the accompaniment of his cherished girlfriend Belen (Clara Lago). Yet the movie starts with Adrian’s world on the verge of collapse as he watches in disbelief a contemporary "Dear John" video recording in which Belen informs him she has left.

But it’s not solely the pain of his heartbreak that is numbed with sloshes of whiskey as he replays the message. Buried feelings of regret and indeed guilt are drowned along with his sorrows. His roguish nature led him to openly flirt with Veronica (Marcela Mar), a violinist from the orchestra, and despite the external denial he exhibits, Adrian knows deep down this was a contributor in Belen’s departure.

One night at a bar, his drinking goes into overdrive and a young waitress called Fabiana (Martina Garcia), takes Adrian home to sober up.

The passionate liaison soon gets a little complicated. Hans the dog, who was temporarily inherited as part of the rental agreement to the luxury house Adrian is living in, appears to have a disdain for the new female in his life. Then there are the two police investigators, who create a thorny atmosphere between the new lovers when they question Adrian in front of Fabiana about the disappearance of Belen. But most perplexingly are the apparent ethereal occurrences that start to terrify Fabiana when she is alone in the house. Ripples inexplicably swan through the water in her bath tub and sink. Strange howled echoes appear to emanate from the plug hole. But almost scornfully, the showers temperature fluctuates between hot and scolding to leave Fabiana’s skin reddened. Despite her bizarre tribulation, Adrian doesn’t share her belief that a ghost inhabits the lavish abode.

At this point the movies narrative recoils to the time of Adrian and Belen’s initial days in Bogota. The latter’s bonding with the houses vendor, a middle-aged widow Emma (Alexandra Stewart) leads to her revealing a sinister and secret history of the property.

Although this addresses the riddle as to Belen’s mysterious disappearance, it serves as a catalyst for the most twisted of love triangles in which jealousy, scorn and dominance will change their lives forever....

I really found Baiz’s movie to be a breath of fresh air. The picture cleverly flirts with the supernatural as it toys with ghostly preconceptions before performing a sharp volte-face and grounding the narrative with an injection of originality.

Baiz’s intelligent direction at the crux of the movie is a joy to behold. Desperate predicaments although devoid of gore, convey a real sense of claustrophobic desperation as the devious characters innocence is gradually stripped away. The movie keeps up a good pace and strikes a pleasing balance of drama and tension.

Essentially the picture plays out in three acts and although it does mix the timeline up a little, the method of achieving this in distinct passages avoids confusing the viewer by jumping back and forth at will. These varying periods are then married brilliantly in the suspense laden final third which delivers a worthy conclusion.

Along with directing, Baiz is also credited with writing the screenplay, but the story itself was penned by Arturo Infante. I can’t testify as how much collaboration there was but between the two of them but the main characters make for an eclectic trio. Although decent citizens on the surface, each of the trios dissipated morals contribute liberally to their ruin. It’s this concept that is subtly interwoven into the narrative giving the movie some stalwart protagonists that don’t fit snugly into distinctly ‘good’ or ‘bad’ groupings.

The disc itself presents THF in its original aspect ratio of 2:35.1 and the picture quality is fantastic. The film has quite a polished aesthetic and production which suits the affluence of the story delightfully. The language is Spanish but the hardcoded English subtitles were in a distinct and easily readable white font.

Unfortunately there are no ‘Extras’ whatsoever included with the DVD, but such is the quality of the movie, the lack of bonus material shouldn’t put folk off checking out a quite gripping picture.

As is the trend with quality foreign chillers a remake is on the cards. But it’s Bollywood not Hollywood that is reimaging Baiz’s fine picture in the form an Indian movie simply called MURDER 3. Something tells me it will need more than a few cans of ice cold Cobra to be anywhere near as impressive as the original!

Review by Marc Lissenburg