Infiesto (Netflix, 2023)
Infiesto is a tense and gripping Spanish crime drama, written and directed by Patxi Amezcua.
It stars Iria del Rio en Isak Ferriz in the main roles as two detectives, Marta and Samuel, who are called to a small mining town in the Asturian mountains. A young woman, Saio Blanco, presumed dead for three months has suddenly reappeared, leaving the detectives to question what dark forces are at work.
Based on the state of her eyes and body, Saio was kept in the dark for three months. There’s also a good chance she was not the only victim. Can the police duo find out who did this?
I’m not familiar with Amezcua’s first two features, 25 Kilates (2008) and Septimo (2013), but I did see (and enjoy) the movie A Man of Action, that he wrote about a legendary anarchist bankrobber, which I also reviewed for this site.
Infiesto takes place during the first lockdown of the COVID pandemic, which adds some much needed specificity to the movie. The duo can’t see their loved ones, so they have all the time to solve the case. Their superior tells them that because of the ‘confinamiento’ he needs all his other people elsewhere, so they are left to their own devices.
‘It feels like the end of the world,’ one remarks to the other. ‘Maybe it is,’ the other replies. Prophetic words? Who knows…
Samuel and Marta are helped along by the fact that they can follow in the footsteps of the earlier, unsuccessful investigation, but there is still a mountain of work to be done.
There are a lot of good thrillers made in Spain so you have to stand out from the crowd, and the lockdown angle certainly helps.
While watching Infiesto I was at times reminded of the work of Oriol Paulo (Contratiempo) who is one of my favorite directors. Amezcua may well be next climbing the international ladder.
He knows very well how to tell a story that’s both gripping and moody - the orange hues certainly help as a visual clue.
Amidst the rising tension, both Marta and Samuel give it their all, but the final part of the movie is genuinely shocking.
I would have liked to have seen it on the big screen, but it works really well on Netflix too. So make sure you see it too!