Monday, December 1, 2014

Cannibal (2013, Manuel Martin Cuenca)

"Cannibal" is a very slow-paced and non-graphic Spanish serial killer-drama film. Due to the little bit of info I had picked up prior to viewing this one, I wasn't entirely caught off-guard, though I must say, it ended up being a pretty unremarkable undertaking...

A highly introverted tailor takes to stalking and kidnapping women, whom he transports to his secluded cabin in the mountains where he butchers them for their meat. Keeping his freezer amply stocked, he dines solely on these human gobbets. He ends up falling into a casual relationship with the hot floozy neighbor chick, who goes missing one day after coming to his apartment for help. Her sister soon shows up looking for her, to which he offers his help - thus, their awkward liaison is sparked.

The performances are solid - namely the Carlos character, played by Antonio de la Torre - whom no background is given for, but you can only assume he has the old classic serial killer/cannibal-syndrome of never wanting a woman to leave him, of which, the intimate act of cannibalism satisfies. Speaking of cannibalism, the film doesn't expound on the topic much - just showing Carlos butchering a chick off-screen (just showing her leg and some blood-flow) at the beginning and failing to capture a skinny dipper later on. The movie plays out as more of a "pastel" conceptualization of a serial killer/cannibal lifestyle, with really no violence or 'horror' elements. That's all fine, but I felt that the movie missed it's mark with the painful tedium it demonstrates. I normally have no problem with 'character studies', but "Cannibal" just moved WAY too slow and amounted to way too little to appeal to me. It's well shot and acted, but the whole cannibal element was underplayed and is virtually meaningless in the long run. This movie could have left all that out and still have been the same, as far as I'm concerned. And it would have forced them to have picked a more fitting title...

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