Film: Intacto
Release date: 13th October 2003
Certificate: 15
Running time: 108 mins
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Max von Sydow, Eusebio Poncela, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Mónica López, Antonio Dechent
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: Spain
From the mind of the darkly comic Esperados, comes the feature length debut of young Spanish director Juan Carlos. Intacto makes tangible the concept of luck as characters can steal, win, barter or risk their fortuitousness in a series of gambles that range from the familiar surroundings of a casino to the deadly world of Russian roulette.
Samuel runs a casino in the centre of a vast deserted wilderness. Within its halls, he invites those who believe they are lucky enough to chance their fortune on the roulette tables and those brave enough to a more macabre version of roulette. Samuel is ably assisted by his manager, Federico, who, having been taught by Samuel, is capable of stealing the luck of anyone who ends up being more successful than the owners would like. However, after a falling out between the pair, Samuel rescinds the powers he bestowed upon Federico, and banishes him acrimoniously from his presence. Federico promises he will return and exact revenge on his former master and sets off in search of one lucky enough to rival the self-titled luckiest man on the planet.
Picking up a national newspaper, Federico reads the headline about a plane crash that killed all but one of the passengers onboard. He believes this surviving individual could have the potential he could harness to achieve his goals.
Tomás is a petty thief whose life is spiralling downward at a rapid rate so does not hesitate in accepting the offer presented to him when he is told he can make millions from playing games. From simple card games to running through a forest blindfolded, Tomás undertakes several tasks, as the events of his and everyone else’s pasts, their reasons and desires, are slowly revealed to us, including that of a young police woman, Sara, who is hot on their heels, seeking to shut down these underground rings, and, at the same time, understand the mystical logic that decrees and guides people’s fates...
One of the joyous aspects of Fresnadillo’s Intacto is the pace at which it marches along. As a viewer, you are thrown right into the heart of the action from a very early stage, and certain elements of the film’s luck-based construct are never explained outright. This is because the director trusts the audience to quickly adapt and accept the premise on which the transfer of fortune operates, and, as a result, allows the plot to remain sharp, snappy and, most importantly, unpatronising in what would be an otherwise futile attempt to ‘justify’ the sequences.
Each of the four protagonists is presented to the viewer with enough air time to justify their motivations and garner enough emotional sympathy or antipathy, respectively. Argentina’s Leonardo Sbaraglia delivers an understated performance as the drifting Tomás, whose initial naive exuberance for the money-making venture yields for an increasingly disillusioned stance. While he enjoys winning and making money with Federico, his lack of personal motivation for the Samuel confrontation makes him an increasingly uncooperative partner. We gradually learn of his own problems and heartache as we lurch from one outlandish contest to the next - it transpires his girlfriend was to board the same fateful flight as him until he admitted he did not love her moments before boarding.
The main arc is balanced delicately with the equally naive sub-story of investigative police officer Sara. However, whereas for long portions of the film Tomás comes across as disinterested in how and why his luck is so powerful and valued by others, Sara is the inquisitive mind the audience longs for. Whether or not we wish her to succeed in her goal is entirely relative to the viewer, yet she provides us with the analytical route into understanding why certain situations take place. Not simply a police officer, she too is blessed with some of the good fortune possessed by others in the story and, as a result, in an attempt to better understand the world she investigates, takes part in some equally strange games of chance. Sara, whose emotional degradation is played warmingly by Monica Lopez, is the counterbalance to Tomás’ own tale. Sara often struggles in keeping herself together as she has repeated flashbacks of the death of her husband and child, saying “I love you” to them moments before their car is careered into by a wayward driver. It is not by fluke that her story is the antithesis to Tomás’, as director Fresnadillo intertwines the themes of chance and love, challenging his characters to understand why one may prove to be greater than the other.
The unique quirkiness with which luck is addressed in Intacto is at the heart of what sparks the enjoyment from its viewing. Never has luck been shown as a tangible commodity, something that can be accumulated, bartered, traded and exchanged, which can explain why it is that certain people escape certain situations. Yet the definition of luck in Intacto is as vague as it is surreal. From games involving giant stick insects to running across a motorway at rush hour, Fresnadillo tends to view luck as one would wealth - it is something you can be born into, something that can be earned through one’s own endeavours, or something very few can stumble into by chance (like a lottery).
While the lack of depth in Intacto benefits the overall momentum of the film, it does provide a few holes in character development, in particular with Max von Sydow’s Jewish mastermind, Samuel. While Sydow’s performance is nothing less than powerhouse, and winds up stealing the show, the justification for his character’s actions are noticeably lacking. It is never fully established whether he is a reluctant participant, driven by what the fates have chosen for him, or whether he pursues his terminal games of chance with his opponents with any motive - malicious, redemptive or otherwise. It proves to be an irritation more than a severe downfall, and while clarification would be desired, the soliloquy by Sydow in the vastness of the casino’s wastelands is an impressively moving moment of cinematic gravitas by anyone’s standards.
Intacto is a film full of fresh, vibrant ideas and a philosophy on luck based on the ideas of Immanuel Kant that are transferred onto screen by Fresnadillo, whose keen directorial sense includes an eye for impressive panoramics and a use of vivid colour, which are highly reminiscent of fellow Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.
Armed with a team of highly skilled actors, both known and unknown, Intacto is presented with panache and poise that is both a success cinematically and for the studio that gambled on this emerging and talented director. BL
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