El Conde

(WHAT WE COUP IN THE SHADOWS)

Imagination has been expended to liven up the theme that dictators from four or five decades ago can be understood as vampires feeding on the blood of the people, and the use of Purcell and Vivaldi early on gives hope that a mood at least will be sustained. Nevertheless, despite the diversions offered by the rather interesting character of the nun/accountant played by Luchsinger (who seems undoubtedly to have been hired because of her physical resemblance to Falconetti), the satire wears thin.

narration in fiction is never a good idea, a flying jeanne d'arc with fangs is.

I'm sure I'm missing a lot of references. But this feels like a Fletcher Memorial Home of dictator comedies; admirable for its honest anger filtered through the very dark humour of having those who got away with it brag... no, not even brag, just be completely unsurprised that they got away with it because that's how the world works; but not the song you put on repeat. It's slow, with neither very distinct plotting nor character work, and the central joke good but too static.

I understood little of this - beyond the obvious metaphor that fascist tyrants are vampiric, and their policies never quite seem to die - but I appreciated a lot of it all the same: the design and cinematography are excellent, moments (such as the flight sequence) almost seem to skip past purpose to meaning, and nothing can beat the absolutely hilarious mother reveal (which I jokingly predicted early on).

Quanto ódio ao final desse filme, passei o filme todo achando uma sátira brilhante, mas extremamente incomodada com a falta de menção do governo estadunidense na parte que cabe ao latifúndio do Pinochet, quando a Margaret Tatcher apareceu fiquei na esperança que o Strigoi se revelasse o Ronald Reagan ou o Henry Kissinger, mas nada. Só porque empresas americanas pagam os boletos do Larraín, ele simplesmente se mostra putinha dos americanos. Que ódio. MKO

The cinematography and hook should make this way more fun than it is. It seems to not really work as a crazy satire using vampire lore, and neither as an genuine appraisal of the way that Pinochet wrecked his country. Especially compared to the masterpiece Azor, a film that raised the bar on depicting South American kleptocratism extremely high. The tone here is sometimes too didactic, other times more knowledge of the subject seems required. A wonderful visual style however, oscar nom deserved

Beautifully shot and with a great premise, Larrin's comment on Chilean politics of the 70s and 80s is a bit ethereal. Often both funny and brutal, the idea probably doesn't have enough juice to sustain a feature length film in a totally satisfying way. Still, I applaud the uniqueness of this.

My Chilean history has some, ahem, holes in it, so I didn't know anything about the backstory coming in. And it's not necessary, the themes shine through. This inspired oddity is quite a twist on the typical vampire yarn. It loses its way here and there, and left me itching for the movie to somehow go even further with its premise. But it's a fun ride.

Not quite What We Do in the Shadows, but a good effort nevertheless. Funny, pretty, original.

The story about how an even intruiging as boundless tale changes into a colorless Spanisch sitcom with vampirestuff.

Treading carefully to avoid spoilers, but fascinating how Larraín pulls a last minute switch to tie this back to his series of portraits of female political players of the 20th Century (and I knew that voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it!) Overall feels like a neat idea slightly bungled in the execution, with some nicely acerbic comedy marrying well with Lachman’s stark and chilly cinematography, but weighed down by a lot of clunkily wordy dialogue scenes which break the spell.