ANIMAS (2018 - Spanish)

Studio:      Netflix
Director:    Laura Alvea, Jose Ortuno
Writer:      Laura Alvea, Jose Ortuno
Producer:  Olmo Figueredo Gonzalez-Quevedo
Stars:     Clare Durant, Ivan Pellicer, Luis Bermejo, Liz Lobato, Chaca Huang, Angela Molina

Review Score:

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Summary:

Haunted by strange visions, a troubled teen discovers that her best friend hides a secret connected to her deepest fears.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

As young children, Alex comforts Abraham Cerbero, who lives in the same apartment building, over his broken yo-yo and combative parents Daniel and Laura.

Ten Years Later – Alex and Bram look forward to graduation. Alex is strangely unable to use a waiting room water cooler while Bram visits his psychotherapist Dr. Karla Berger. While alone in her bathroom later, Alex repeatedly slaps herself in the face and considers cutting her side with a razor blade.

Alex and Bram attend a graduation party at a dance club. Bram takes an interest in his crush Anchi, who dislikes Alex.

Alex leaves the club feeling haunted by a dark silhouette. The same silhouette frightens Alex when she takes a shower later.

Bram’s distraught mother Laura tasks Bram with bringing lunch to his angry father Daniel at work. Alex accompanies Bram. Bram and Alex witness Daniel having a breakdown following a frustrating phone call regarding his failing business.

Bram cryptically refers to an uncomfortable secret concerning Alex, but refuses to divulge deeper details. Alex returns to her apartment in frustration to find her mother and her dog Bosco inexplicably missing.

Alex goes back to Bram’s apartment to find no one there either. The silhouette stalks Alex once again. Alex hears crying under the floor from the apartment next to hers. Following another seemingly supernatural experience in the elevator, Alex runs into Bram.

Bram takes Alex back to his place, where Laura now stands in deep depression. Laura tells the teens that no one lives in the apartment where Alex heard crying.

Concerned about her visions, Alex asks Bram if he thinks something might be wrong with her mind. Daniel returns home in a rage to beat Bram, knocking Alex unconscious in the process.

When Alex recovers, Bram insists that he will take care of the situation with his father. Alex returns home to find her apartment completely empty except for a phone. A voicemail from Alex’s mother simply says, “everything’s fine, it had to happen sooner or later.”

Alex finds Bram’s broken yo-yo from childhood. Alex begins crawling through the vents toward the neighboring apartment, which causes the lights to flicker above Laura at Bram’s place. The silhouette frightens Alex back into her apartment.

Someone uses Daniel’s car to run over Bram’s father, putting him in critical condition. Against Laura’s wishes, Bram insists on Alex spending the night at their place to help console him. Bram is surprised to find his father’s car keys in his pants. Bram sends a cryptic text to Anchi related to finally doing something about Alex.

The silhouette frightens Alex during the night. Bram vanishes. Alex phones for help only to hear her voice echoing on the other end. Alex returns to her apartment to search for Bosco and her mother. Alex confronts strange visions that include an old woman as well as a mysterious door in the floor.

Alex finds a book titled “The Sick Rose” written by Bram’s therapist Dr. Berger. The book discusses children who deal with fearful situations through pathological dissociation.

In her office, Dr. Berger hypnotizes Bram to recall the night of his father’s accident. Alex goes up the elevator to interrupt Bram’s therapy session when she is suddenly transported to her bathroom. Alex smashes her head against the mirror. Alex uses a shard of broken glass to cut herself. The silhouette appears and extends its arm toward Alex, who begins rapidly aging.

Alex runs outside to see Bram riding away on a motorbike with Anchi. Alex follows the couple to the library for a confrontation. Bram accuses Alex of being the person who ran over Daniel. Bram suddenly vanishes. Anchi tells Alex that she is Bram’s problem, not his solution. Alex throws Bram’s yo-yo.

Bram returns home to find his mother unconscious from an intentional overdose. Alex rushes to meet Bram at the hospital.

When she demands to know what is really behind all of the strange events and behavior, Bram finally tells Alex that she is a creation of his imagination that he had the power to make real. Bram explains that Alex hurts herself to remember her senses, but that she only feels what he wants her to feel since Alex merely exists in his mind.

Bram uses his power to try forcing Alex to wake up. Alex finds herself transported back to the apartment building where she confronts more visions. A flashback shows young Bram with Daniel, Laura, Bosco, and his grandmother, who was the old woman that Alex previously encountered.

Bram goes to see Dr. Berger with Anchi. Dr. Berger hypnotizes Bram to try to eliminate Alex from existence once and for all.

In her dreamscape, Alex reads Bram’s mental health file. Alex connects all of the events she experienced to horror movie posters on Bram’s bedroom wall that inspired his imagination. Alex continues confronting various visions until she reaches a door in the ceiling that allows her to access Bram’s mind.

Alex possesses Bram in Dr. Berger’s office in order to manifest as a physical construct once more. Alex chokes Dr. Berger before turning her attention to Anchi. Bram stabs himself in the stomach with broken glass to stop Alex from hurting Anchi.

Alex stays by Bram’s side as he is rushed to the hospital. Distraught that he might die, Alex screams that she will permanently disappear if Bram survives. The operating room scene freezes. Bram’s spirit rises to accept Alex’s offer, but she insists on showing him a memory she found in his mind first.

Alex shows Bram that Laura actually ran over Daniel. Alex and Bram have a reconciliatory conversation. Alex gives Bram his yo-yo. The two of them say goodbye to each other. Alex jumps off a building as time rewinds and Bram awakens in the hospital.

In an epilogue, young Alex appears at a playground to console a different little boy after bullies beat him.

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Review:

Their fractured families were neighbors in the same apartment building first. But Alex and Bram became fast friends as young children after Alex consoled the tearful boy over his broken yo-yo and bitterly bickering parents.

Ten years later, the two teens look forward to graduating together, although evolving into adulthood presents new problems. Bram’s interest in his crush Anchi normally wouldn’t be a big deal between these platonic pals, except Alex now needs the kind of comfort she offered Bram when they were kids.

At a dance club, in the shower, or simply while riding an elevator, Alex can’t shake a dark silhouette seemingly stalking in every shadow. Alex’s mind might be tormenting her to match the physical scars of self-abuse adorning hidden parts of her body. Bram’s new romance already hinders how much attention he can turn toward Alex. His father’s powder keg personality and mother’s suicidal spiral preoccupy Bram even more.

Troubles at home aren’t the only weight on Bram’s mind. Cryptic inferences and unfinished conversations hint at a secret Bram isn’t ready to spill. Whatever he is hiding could be the key to freeing Alex from the apparition. Or it could open the door to a torment more terrifying than either teen is prepared for.

I went into “Animas” knowing nothing about its story. IMDb’s plot summary simply said, “this time, horror comes from the other side.” A preview poster tagline only offered, “a teenage mind is a terrifying place.” The press release included details like, “everything changes when (Bram’s) father dies … from this moment on, Alex finds herself on a hallucinatory journey that takes her on a descent into hell.” I wonder if those words were written from production notes by a copywriter unfamiliar with the film, because Bram’s father doesn’t die (Bram says he is in critical condition) and Alex’s visions begin before that event.

So when it isn’t exploring themes of coming-of-age pain and uncertain self-identity, what then is “Animas” “about?”

Other than watching a troubled teen girl experience vaguely haunting phenomena for reasons unknown, approximately 50 minutes of “Animas” passes before its plot takes a less nebulous shape. Unfortunately, and perhaps unavoidably due to how delicately the big reveal has to be handled, the structure of the mystery puts the movie in a hole that repetitively plodding sequences can’t dig the narrative out of. Slow and steady may win the race, but it doesn’t make for an energetically engaging movie.

Alex, Bram, or both? Who am I meant to relate to and what reasons are there to remain invested? The backward build of the fiction creates a frustrating experience whose purpose remains hazy for so long, intrigue wanes rapidly in the interim.

“Animas” mostly molds its waking dream settings, very capably I might add, from artful flourishes. Rich red and green colors overindulge in a “Suspiria” lighting scheme that becomes overbearing, yet effectively adds to surreal splashes of woozy melancholy. Camerawork captures carefully choreographed actions with finely fluid movements. “Animas” looks to be low budget, and is staged inside restrictive locations. But filmmakers Laura Alvea and Jose Ortuno make the most out of every inch of space through thoughtful blocking, creative direction, and production design that would earn accolades on a bigger project with an additional zero in its bank account.

As Alex and Bram, Clare Durant and Ivan Pellicer are good at what they are given to do, which admittedly isn’t a whole lot more than moping, feigning fear, trembling into tears, or expressing other emotive actions. “Animas” doesn’t depend on dialogue. It doesn’t have to since there isn’t much story to tell. As skilled as Durant and Pellicer are at communicating without words and connecting to viewers through visible emotions, “Animas” still suffers from a script whose gaps in substance are filled with laboriously long takes of walking, stalking, or just looking around in dark rooms.

The Spanish-language film, whose title translates to “Souls” in English, earns admiration for its unusual take on a somewhat familiar twist, as well as for its sincere dedication to the topic of emotionally troubled teens. Technical execution is top notch for this tier of thriller too. I’d edge up the 50/50 score if the pace did the same by at least 1.25x. It’s the side-to-side stride of unhurried ambling that grounds “Animas” from taking flight as a provocative psychological drama.

Review Score: 50

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