Once Pedro Chazarreta found murdered in the wonderful gated, El Tribuno newspaper hires retired detective novelist Nurit Iscar/Betibù that is installed in the area and a series of newspaper columns about the case. Along with the Chief of police of the newspaper, Mariano Saravia, and a veteran journalist, Jaime Breña, Betibù starts to investigate the murder. Using an old photo of the adolescence of Chazarreta, which shows him with fellow high school, the Group discovers an apparent connection between this murder and a succession of apparently trivial deaths of members of the photo. At the same time, Betibù must face its past emotional with the editor of the newspaper, Lorenzo Rinaldi, who seeks to restore the relationship.
Reviews
With its connection to the excellent The Secret in their Eyes, I was immediately interested in seeing this film in the London Film Festival.Most of the film plays out as an investigative thriller, not too dissimilar to the well made TV equivalents. The whole knits well, with the right type of cast.And like some of the TV equivalents, it somewhat flatters to deceive. Very little is said, other than the powerful are secretive and weird, and that there are shadowy forces. The end is left open, but it is fairly obvious that their investigation will be terminated.
I'm a real fan of film noir, and also fond of crime stories, so I must say a film like Betibu had to catch my attention. The film does work as a thriller, the actors are really superb, especially Mercedes Moran and Daniel Fanego, can't say the same about Jose Coronado or Alberto Amman, probably they try to do their best bus the result is not remarkable. But the main strength of the movie comes from the powerful narrative dominion director has. The characters are complicated, interesting, believable, funny,and deeply human. It's lovely watching it in Spanish, though Argentinians speak their own Spanish, and enjoy the brilliant dialog between all the characters. Highly recommended.
