Although many refuse to recognize it due to prejudices at this point more imaginary than real, each year marks a new milestone for Spanish cinema. So much so that between ‘Cinco lobitos’, ‘Alcarràs’, ‘Cerdita’ or ‘Los renglones crorcidos de Dios’ there is a film that ends up unfairly going unnoticed. This is the case of ‘Cage’, which has not even entered the 30 highest grossing national films of the year but (with a bit of luck) will find a second life on Netflix.
chalk walls
A girl lost on a highway. A chalk that marks where she can (and cannot) go. A series of dangerous events that begin to happen at the adoptive parents’ house. A flashback. ‘Jaula’ hits the nail on the head by creating a mysterious, sinister and paranoid atmosphere that grows thanks to a script that is always a couple of steps ahead of the viewer and he knows how to magnify the mystery, although perhaps he is not capable of sustaining it until the end.
Ignacio Tatay’s film does not focus exclusively on creating iconic moments (which it has) and showing a recognizable iconography, but rather try to ensure that the public never knows where they are going to shoot. It is true that the resolution is the most conservative of all possible options, but the disappointing feeling it leaves is only due to the fact that during the rest of the footage your brain does not stop imagining different solutions to the enigma that arises.
‘Cage’ overstimulates you, deceives you, lies to you in plain sightperforms magic tricks on you by introducing you to characters with such resilience in the face of misfortune that they could only exist in the movies, but whose impossibility only helps to increase the weirdness that imbues the film. ‘Cage’ is more than solvent because she knows how to get out of any situation, however improbable it may seem, by making an unexpected dribble without it meaning a betrayal of herself.
movie
My colleague Jorge used to say that the film is consumed like an airport novel, and I can’t think of a more accurate simile: you don’t want to leave ‘Cage’ at any time, it catches you from minute one and, riddle by riddle, it takes you through the pages with more mastery in entertainment than in technique. An adrenaline trip in which terror and drama are mixed and where unexpected swerves are part of the game (if you want to get into it).
Elena Anaya we hadn’t seen it in Spanish cinema for six yearswith the sequel to ‘Zipi y Zape’, but his return after the Hollywood tour is more than welcome: far from believing that being a genre film can relax, offers a fabulous interpretation without leaving anything in the inkwell. Along with her, the rest of the cast (which does not stand out) seems to grow, with special emphasis on Eva Tennear, the girl who gets the best minutes of the film and who debuts in the cinema in style.
Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang produce the film (which is still referred to as ‘The House of Chalk’ on the Pookepsie Films website) and has his imprint all over the footage, both for the good (the originality, the suspense, being totally faithful to his intentions throughout the footage) and for the bad (that ending, some over-explanations along the way). They were more or less involved in the film, the truth is that it is clear that Tatay intends to be a new voice of Spanish cinema that has a firm hand to narrate without pretending to be the authorand that in his sleeve hides many things to tell.
Who can yell at a child?
‘Cage’ is the perfect demonstration of how to do more with less or make lemonade if you have lemons. Sometimes it is too dark, and the sound mix is not the best, but it is also easy to guess that the budget it has had is not exactly that of ‘The Warren File’. daddy’s movie it has everything to keep you on your toes for almost two hours in which you never get bored, even if you feel that the twists are a bit untrue or that the ending is too over-explanatory.
Could be an afternoon movie come to more, ‘Cage’ decides to dig into impossible twists and turns, look into the unknown and make suspense movies above the life drama. And just for that daring it would already be worth it, but it is also full of surprises, a solid direction, a script destined not to bore and two superb lead performances. If she did not succeed in cinema, hopefully now she will have the opportunity that was denied to her.