Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

thinker1691 Ivan Noel, wrote and directed this dark tale of Gabriel who is constantly visited by spectral dreams of Sofia (Romina Pinto) his mother. Isolated from his troubled mother, the boy becomes a dark, lonely brooding child (Renzo Sabelli) who witnessed her death. Gregorio, his father (Guillermo Tassara) is a harsh demanding disciplinarian who is pressured by the landlord to vacate the somber premises is unable to find help for his son. Seeking ways to improve the haunted estate which once belonged to a group of Monks, Gregorio invites his sister Debora (Leticia Vota) to help advise the suicide prone boy. Gabriel however is fixated by ghostly apparitions which convince him that his love is being stolen by a girl who insists on being part of his life. The combination of problems and ghostly apparition's of the Monks, leads Gabriel to despondency and urges him to follow in the maternal requests to join his mother. Following this movie is interesting enough, but Noel the director adds a black melancholy drama to the movie and at times, the audiences is hard pressed to follow into fear and terror. Nevertheless, the film is yet another attempt of matching the book to his talent as frightening entertainment. One has to understand the medium to follow him, but upon succeeding, enjoyment becomes the by-product. Well done. ****

navy87 Another masterpiece from Ivan Noel. Beautifully filmed and haunting story that will stay with you long after the closing credits. If you like your movies simple and predictable, this is not the movie for you. But if you are willing to venture outside your comfort zone just a bit and have your senses challenged, you'll be richly rewarded. What seems to be a simple tale of a family living in an old monastery slowly leads you down a path of breath taking twists and turns. A traumatic event sets a chain of tragic events in motion, leading to a magnificent finale. Renzo Sabelli, the young actor who plays the (aptly named) boy Gabriel puts in an amazing, believable performance for one so young.

fmmvhattum Mr. Noel has created a new masterpiece, after 'En Tu Ausencia' and 'Brecha'. Noel is probably the most attention attracting Spanish cinematographer of the present. His movies are subtle, sensitive and both storyline, camera-work and music are astonishing. Astonishing too is the fact that all this,- story, music and camera -, are works of his own hand. Nevertheless his movies are made with an extremely low budget due to both lack of finance and of recognition. I wonder how long it will take before Art-house lovers will realize that there is a new Spanish master in our midst. 'Vuelve' is highly recommended (and so are his previous films).

TiVDB In the middle of nowhere there is an old monastery, where a boy lives with his parents. His beloved mother is unstable and commits suicide, his father is aloof. At the same time, the real mother of the boy is approaching, but without success... This is a magnificent, unique film about the torments of a young teenage boy, combined with elements of myth, roots of fairy tales, dream, and incredibly good music. Images and sequences like Caravaggio-paintings.When you'd ask me how to compare this film, the answer would be really difficult. Trying a personal, clumsy, incomplete answer: Imagine a mixture of some images resulting from Thomas Mann's greatest novels (Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain) + the sinister parts of "Fanny and Alexander" by Ingmar Bergman + minor touches of "The Tree of Life" by Terrence Malick + some sketches of da Vinci ...