This film is shot and directed like The Exorcist III. It looks like a horror film despite the fact that it's a science fiction drama.
Rantes is a cuckoo who voluntarily commits himself to a psychiatric hospital. He claims to be an alien with a strong interest in human behaviour. Psychiatrist Julio Denis takes a special interest in him, probably because he seems more cool, intelligent, and descriptive than his typical patient.
Our doctor seems to oscillate between belief and disbelief, always paying lip service to his duly scientific opinion that the claims Rantes is spewing are absurd while on the other hand going to great lengths to try to gather evidence that Rantés is either lying or is making scientifically untenable statements.
The writer was trying to be cute with this one. Rantés spews criticisms of humanity but they're not really original or tied to anything substantial. Humans tend to be rather selfish and hypocritical. Most people are unhappy with their mundane and restricted lives. So what? This is old news. What's next? Going to tell me humans are destroying the planet? Just having a character say something in a monotone voice doesn't make it deep or artistic.
More than a few scenes are illogical, although the film slowly becomes more abstract and unglued from the fabric of reality as it goes along, so one could argue this is on purpose. On the other hand, our good doctor does something strikingly unethical and out of character near the end of the movie. So, like the doctor himself, I am confused as to whether this movie was a bit sloppy or attempting to be more surreal. I opt for the former.
For a movie that mainly relies on dialogue, there are a lot of scenes where the music plays so loudly that you can't hear what the characters are saying for a few critical seconds. A huge error, in my opinion.
The film successfully keeps you entertained with its principal mystery. Not only is the concept itself just refreshingly novel, but the film is competently put together. The director is masterful at stringing the audience along with just enough doubt to keep them wanting to keep seeing things through to the end. The straight man/(possibly?) gaslit man main duo is also supported by strong acting from the two leads. Yet I think the best part of it is the ambiance. The lighting is dark, the setting of a psychiatric hospital and frequent use of organ music is effectively creepy, and the lead character does act like some alien, emotionally-disturbed person, or machine. It feels like an 80s horror movie.
I notice lots of people rate this movie a 10. It's good for what it is, but let's not exaggerate its superterrestrial powers.
Honourable Mentions: Doubt (2008). Sudeste is, at the core, neither a movie about an alien, nor about faith, nor about the flaws of humanity, but instead about doubt, much like this 2008 drama about a priest and a young Catholic school pupil.
Rantes is a cuckoo who voluntarily commits himself to a psychiatric hospital. He claims to be an alien with a strong interest in human behaviour. Psychiatrist Julio Denis takes a special interest in him, probably because he seems more cool, intelligent, and descriptive than his typical patient.
Our doctor seems to oscillate between belief and disbelief, always paying lip service to his duly scientific opinion that the claims Rantes is spewing are absurd while on the other hand going to great lengths to try to gather evidence that Rantés is either lying or is making scientifically untenable statements.
The writer was trying to be cute with this one. Rantés spews criticisms of humanity but they're not really original or tied to anything substantial. Humans tend to be rather selfish and hypocritical. Most people are unhappy with their mundane and restricted lives. So what? This is old news. What's next? Going to tell me humans are destroying the planet? Just having a character say something in a monotone voice doesn't make it deep or artistic.
More than a few scenes are illogical, although the film slowly becomes more abstract and unglued from the fabric of reality as it goes along, so one could argue this is on purpose. On the other hand, our good doctor does something strikingly unethical and out of character near the end of the movie. So, like the doctor himself, I am confused as to whether this movie was a bit sloppy or attempting to be more surreal. I opt for the former.
For a movie that mainly relies on dialogue, there are a lot of scenes where the music plays so loudly that you can't hear what the characters are saying for a few critical seconds. A huge error, in my opinion.
The film successfully keeps you entertained with its principal mystery. Not only is the concept itself just refreshingly novel, but the film is competently put together. The director is masterful at stringing the audience along with just enough doubt to keep them wanting to keep seeing things through to the end. The straight man/(possibly?) gaslit man main duo is also supported by strong acting from the two leads. Yet I think the best part of it is the ambiance. The lighting is dark, the setting of a psychiatric hospital and frequent use of organ music is effectively creepy, and the lead character does act like some alien, emotionally-disturbed person, or machine. It feels like an 80s horror movie.
I notice lots of people rate this movie a 10. It's good for what it is, but let's not exaggerate its superterrestrial powers.
Honourable Mentions: Doubt (2008). Sudeste is, at the core, neither a movie about an alien, nor about faith, nor about the flaws of humanity, but instead about doubt, much like this 2008 drama about a priest and a young Catholic school pupil.