Icarus Films will be teaming up with Distrib Films
on Dec. 10 for the domestic DVD debut of Argentinian filmmaker Benjamín
Naishtat’s awarding-winning neo-noir
thriller, Rojo.
After debuting at the Toronto International Film
Festival in September of last year, Naishtat’s Rojo went
on a globe-trotting journey, pulling in wins for Naishtat (Best Director - San
Sebastián International Film Festival, among others) and the film’s star, Darío
Grandinetti (Guadalajara International Film Festival, San Sebastián International
Film Festival, etc.), and then capped it off with a sweep of the 2018 Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina Awards for Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Original Screenplay and both Best Sound and Best Editing awards.
The film opened theatrically in the United States
during mid-summer of this year (and will continue with selected bookings
through October and November). For the
record, the ARR comes in at 151 days and box office receipts generated from the
film’s arthouse run currently stand at an impressive $91,213.
Before Naishtat could launch into his story, which
takes place during the “Dirty War” years in Argentina in the mid-70s, he felt
that he needed to get the period and setting just right. Extensive research was done with a team that
he assembled, which included a historian with special focus on the provincial
aspects of Argentina during the period.
He also recruited Julieta Dolinsky and her talented crew to handle the production
design and cinematographer Pedro Sotero to get the photographic “feel” of the
period.
Once Naishtat got the details of Rojo just
right, the casting and production followed and the result is a film that feels
like it is taking place in 1975 on the eve of the military coup that would
result in the “Dirty War” … a period where people simply “disappeared.”
It is here, in a small provincial town, that we are
introduced to Claudio (Darío Grandinetti), a noted lawyer. There is a house, a nice house, it is nearby
his home and the owners have seemingly vanished. That house will become a major “player” in
the story, but first there is the incident at the restaurant.
We find Claudio waiting at a popular restaurant for
the arrival of his wife, Susana (Andrea Frigerio). He has been seated ahead of another
customer, who becomes incensed when Claudio just sits there, alone,
waiting. Finally this stranger (played
by Diego Cremonesi) becomes so rude that he is tossed out. Claudio’s wife arrives and that’s that.
Quite the story to share over dinner … and certainly
something designed to set the viewer a little on edge and left to wonder what
was that all about. The meal ends and
Claudio and Susana soon encounter the stranger outside the restaurant, who has
apparently waited for them.
One thing leads to another and the stranger ends up
dead. Report it to the police? So many questions with that, especially when
you add in the incident at the restaurant.
It was an accident, but Claudio decides it might be prudent to simply
get rid of the body … and that will be that.
After a drive to the countryside — the sprawling
Pampas — a grave is dug and the body disposed of. Once back in town we are introduced to an
“associate” of Claudio by the name of Vives (Claudio Martínez Bel) who has come
up with an ingenious plan to “acquire” the vacant property — the locals have
been coming and going at regular intervals looting the place. A shady deal is set in motion.
Dead body, shady real estate deal … you can see how Rojo is
building to something, but just exactly what?
Time will pass, a detective will arrive (played by Alfredo
Castro) asking questions about a “missing person,” more people will vanish —
some quite deliberately because it can simply be done — and a grave may give up
its secret. Rojo is a
suspense thriller that builds and builds … a thriller that works at several
levels and certainly foreshadows a dark period in the history of Argentina that
waits just over the horizon.
Rojo is
presented in Spanish with English subtitles.
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