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SILENCIO
Director: Lorena Villarreal Cast: Melina Matthews, John Noble, Michel Chauvet, Rupert Graves, Hoze Meléndez, Ian Garcia Monterrubio, Nic Jackman, Tina Romero MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:38 Release Date: 10/26/18 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 25, 2018 Silencio provides a lot of promise but not quite enough payoff. The story revolves around a mysterious, near-magical stone, which is created when radioactive material from a crashed nuclear missile combines with a piece of meteorite in Mexico's semi-legendary "Zone of Silence," an expanse of desert that's akin to the Bermuda Triangle. The stone gives its possessor the ability to travel to and change the past. It's discovered by accident, when James (John Noble), a scientist, and his colleague Peter (played by Nic Jackman as a young man and Rupert Graves as an older one), after touching the stone, find themselves at the scene of the imminent deaths of James' entire family a few weeks prior. James saves his granddaughter from the tragedy, and the rescued and now adult Ana (Melina Matthews) cares for James, suffering from dementia, and her son Felix (Ian Garcia Monterrubio). Someone wants the stone, which James buried decades ago, when he recognized the extent of its power. Writer/director Lorena Villarreal treats the rock as a MacGuffin, instead focusing on the terrible consequences of what the knowledge of such a powerful item might bring. It's a thriller for the most part, in which James and, later, Ana must evade and reckon with a hired goon (played Hoze Meléndez), sent to retrieve the stone by an unknown party (whose identity is pretty apparent early on). The movie takes its time, but within that space, it only touches upon the consequences of James having used the stone (A psychic, played by Michel Chauvet, insists that he can see Ana's dead sister, but his character mainly exists for a late reveal involving someone else who dies over the course of the plot). Things pick up significantly when there's an actual conflict over the stone—between two people who want to save a loved one and are desperate enough to resort to violence in order to get it. There's an actual dilemma here, determining which of them should use the stone and what the results—both positive and negative—might be. This, though, is saved for the lengthy climax of Silencio. It is, admittedly, a worthy payoff to the established lore of the stone and the assorted acts that have led to it. When it comes time for Villarreal to actually confront the ultimate decision, though, that payoff is mostly absent. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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