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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie, lousy picture transfer, Mar 10 2004
We wanted to make an "AMERICAN STYLE THRILLER!" says director Alejandro Amenabar and crew concerning the film "Thesis," so much so that you can practically see the all caps and quotation marks whenever anyone mentions the phrase on the behind the scenes featurette. I think this statement even appears on the cover for the DVD edition. The question I have to ask after hearing this declaration is "Why?" Most American thrillers, at least in recent years, are dreadfully boring pieces of chaff churned out with cookie cutter precision. Usually, the characters in an "American thriller" rarely achieve any sort of depth, the filmmakers rely so heavily on special effects and violence as to reduce the plot to mere banality, and the starched, formulaic nature of the film guarantees you can recite the dialogue before the characters do. I suspect the director of "Thesis" probably referred to older American thrillers from the middle part of the twentieth century instead of the pap released over the last couple of decades. Whatever the case, I saw little resemblence to American thrillers as I watched "Thesis." I do think the film favorably compares to one of Dario Argento's giallo films rather than anything released on this side of the pond. And that, my friends, is ultimately a good thing. "Thesis" tells the story of Spanish film student Angela Marquez (Ana Torrent) and her ghastly experiences as she prepares to work on her thesis at university. A closet voyeur fascinated with violence, Marquez hungers to do her thesis on the elusive film genre known as snuff. Snuff, of course, is the filming of real murder for entertainment value, and we all know such things do not exist in any marketable sense of the word. Angela thinks this is true until she asks one of her professors to check out gory footage for her from the school's film vault. When her teacher dies while watching one of these tapes, Marquez finds herself caught up in an increasingly bizarre series of events that prove, among other things, that snuff films really do exist. Moreover, as Angela deepens her investigations into the demise of her professor, she realizes individuals in the university itself may well be involved in filming murders. Several local girls went missing over the past year or so, one of whom appears on a tape Angela obtains from the film vault. No one is safe from suspicion, not fellow film student and gore fan Chema, not a slightly creepy guy named Bosco, not Angela's new thesis advisor. It soon gets to the point that Marquez cannot trust anyone at school as she comes closer and closer to the horrific truth behind the snuff films stored in the film vault. She will, in fact, consider herself lucky to escape with her life let alone finish her thesis. "Thesis" is all about atmosphere, and it has plenty to spare. Many scenes in the film are downright creepy. Pay close attention to Angela's up close and personal encounter with the suspicious Bosco in her bedroom, or the trip through the darkened tunnel as the strange Chema tells a weird story, or the scene where Marquez first watches the snuff tape but can only stand to listen to the grisly sounds for a few seconds before turning the whole thing off. Director Amenabar does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension throughout the movie in a way eerily reminiscent of Italian master Dario Argento. He uses the camera well during extended chase sequences, makes excellent use of lighting during the tunnel scene and the explosive conclusion, and even employs the twist within a twist plot development so beloved by fans of Argento. Unlike the Italian maestro, fortunately, Amenabar's film makes sense as a whole. After watching "Thesis," I am not surprised at all that this director has gone on to bigger and better projects and has drawn rave reviews from film critics. "Thesis" is an excellent debut feature from a promising filmmaker. About the only negative concerning the film is the overly long runtime. There's definitely a message in the film. The idea of screen violence, filmmakers, and the audience receives more than lip service from Amenabar. At one point in the film, Marquez's new thesis advisor delivers a lecture regarding the importance of providing the movie going public with whatever material they wish to see, that a director must pay attention to his or her public if they wish to survive in such a tough business. Is Amenabar criticizing the lowbrow, duplicitous tastes of the masses? Or does he truly believe in the legitimacy of something as abhorrent as snuff films? I think the former, since Marquez serves as an archetype of the typical audience member who professes to deplore violence yet cannot escape the irresistible lure of seeing killings played out onscreen. "Thesis" takes the audience to task for its hypocrisy regarding the love/hate relationship with controversial media often expressed by the public even as they buy tickets to such things by the boatload. The DVD version of Amenabar's film is a letdown. The extras--including a batch of trailers and an effective behind the scenes featurette boasting interviews with the cast and crew--are worth watching. What stinks is the quality of the picture transfer; it is grainy, washed out, and looks like someone lifted it right off a second generation VHS dupe. "Thesis" deserves a better release. It is a movie with a message, more than a few scares, and solid performances from the cast. Many movies claim to cover the topic of snuff films, but none that I have seen as of this date can compare with Alejandro Amenabar's "Thesis." Good stuff.
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