Sundown (2021) – 3/5

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„Sundown“ is a co-production between France, Mexico and Sweden and the most frequent language in this one is English because the protagonist(s) here stem(s) from the UK. As the film is set in Acapulco (Mexico), there is a great deal of Spanish too though, especially when all but one family member return to Britain and we mostly follow what is going on with the character staying behind. The writer and director is Michel Franco and he is one of the rising stars of Mexican cinema, even if I am not sure you can still call him that because he is in his early 40s already too and has really been active for many years already. But he is certainly among those most likely to take over when the big Oscar-winning Mexican directors like Cuarón, González Iñárritu and del Toro will make room for the next generation. This is a really short film as it is closer to 80 than to 90 minutes and that includes several minutes of credits already, but I am very much in favor of that. Movies do not need to run on and on desperately to come close to the two-hour mark. At under 1.5 hours this film achieves nicely what it is going for, namely to tell a compelling family drama story. Pay attention to the poster here on imdb. You can see a great deal of sun there, but also the red is almost an implication of the blood coming with it. Death is a very frequent companion during this film. Just look at the very first shot already with these dying fish. Crucial precursor really as there will be many people dying in these 80 minutes. Also look at the scene at the beach. When there is some kind of chill harmony really (kinda funny moment even with these chubby girls in the sand) that is disrupted so hard when most likely a few locals approach the beach on a motorboat and literally execute somebody there with several gun shots at close range. Acapulco may be paradise for many, but it comes with a risk, comes with a price tag. Safety is not guaranteed. On another occasion we hear one character ask another during a phone conversation if he is safe, so they kinda know the risks attached to it all. Oh and also look at the family business in terms of death, even if there it is animal death. There are even a few graphic depictions that only exist in the protagonist’s head. It’s very reasonable to wonder if he feels guilt, maybe religious guilt even.

I may elaborate a bit more on the cast here: The heart and soul of the film is Tim Roth’s lead performance. His character barely talks at all, but Roth did a really fine job and got me and also everybody else I think curious about what is going to happen next. The female character with the biggest screen time I think is played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, not to be confused with Charlotte Rampling, and I initially thought she played the main character’s wife, but actually they are siblings and not romantically involved. This is a truly crucial factor here from the perspective of guilt. Look at the occasion when he says to a local girl that he is not married. We genuinely think at this point that he is ruthlessly lying and unfaithful. But he is not. The longer the film goes, the more you understand the main character’s motives and the less you despise him. The topping in the end is of course the information that he is very sick, most likely terminal and that it was not the first time he got diagnosed. There are documents back at his home and they had them sent to Mexico, so basically the main character is just enjoying the Mexican sun in paradise and thus decides not to return home. If there is anything really you can blame him for, then it is how he stays there and leaves his sister alone with all the funeral preparations. But my guess is that he planned to stay there from the very start. The escalation with the dying mother was just a truly unlucky circumstance, but one he cannot really take into account and reverse his decision because of that. His own possible death is more crucial than his mother’s. Has to be. You would think that he also did not talk with his sister about his illness (given her swearing at him), but that is not 100% sure. Certainly, his nephew and niece are not aware. We see he still cares for them deeply when he caresses his niece in the face knowing he will never see her again. So the main character here is an incredibly tragic character. He is easy to hate early on, especially when you see he has his passport with him, but as the film progresses his actions make more and more sense. Also you cannot really be mad at the woman who is with him. She stays with him after he loses all his fortune, is always with him at the hospital it seems. She is another likable character and no gold digger or anything.

As for Gainsbourg’s character, this is where tragedy struck incredibly hard as well. Nobody could have foreseen what would happen to her when she came back to the country to deal with some bureaucracy. Definitely not the main character. He did not really do anything wrong with the taxi driver he picked and could not have guessed that it was all a setup and that the man targeted him specifically to prepare a kidnapping. Or that he developed this plan in the process. I mean I somehow thought there is something wrong with the guy, but there was not really any logical foundation to think so, just my guts. He seemed too friendly. I definitely could have been wrong there too. However, it was still a bit funny how on one occasion the taxi driver and his buddies are sitting there at the table with the main character because of how awkward this situation was. This is really not a film that will deliver any comedy and when it does to some extent in terms of situational comedy or so, then it becomes obvious so quickly that in retrospective it was a pretty dark moment in fact. And not caring at all and that his question about the hotel was nothing like a question for a friend. There again, the ending is very telling in terms of darkness. Not that there is any comedy to it, but it is just as depressing as the entire film feels as a whole. Depressingly good on many occasions though and carried by strong acting. It’s a film that will not be seen by too many unfortunately I think, so I was glad that the room was relatively packed during my showing. Big surprise as I am in Germany, but yeah Tim Roth certainly still has it. I hope it was equally full the other days too.

Nonetheless this film gives the audience also some harmony in terms of travelling with your family at the start. Before it all goes wrong with the fateful phone call(s) coming in. Look at how they are sitting at the table having a nice meal chatting about a woman being attracted to Roth’s character. Look at how they enjoy watching cliff jumping action, look at how they are joking around, look at how they are playing cards. This was also a bit of a funny moment, or moment that proved deeper than initially you would have thought, when Roth’s character says something in a playful manner that he is not a part of this when his sister and her children have a bit of a not too serious argument about working during vacation. From that moment on, in terms of the atmosphere, it all goes south. If you pay close enough attention, the very first moment already when you realize that he probably staged it was when he tells the taxi driver to just take him to some hotel and not specifically the hotel where they were staying. I also wonder what was up with his stolen luggage there in the hotel. Maybe it was done to get some information about him, about his background for the crime ahead. The taxi driver seemed close with the hotel owner, who was maybe an accomplice that way. It can also be said in favor of the main character and how it is almost impossible to hate him that he eventually paid a price too for leaving his family alone. I am of course talking about his arrest when people suspected that he was somehow involved with the killing of his sister. Maybe even behind it. The consequence was that he had to go to jail and the people that surrounded him there were not exactly charming fellas. This was then when the consulate actually did come into play because earlier it surely did not, no matter what Gainsbourg’s character was thinking. I was a bit surprised when the fella there in his nice suit actually agreed to leave the protagonist alone briefly with the lawyer guy. The latter also gave a nice performance. Very brief, but fairly memorable and solid screen presence.

That is it then pretty much. This is a film that delivers nicely for the most part and became a success. Succeeds with what it is going for. No great ambitions to truly make a memorable impact or become one of the year’s best, but a convincing story that rings almost never false or unauthentic despite a lot of gruesome and not exactly likable stuff happening in here. I mentioned the details already. It’s easy to see that Franco and Roth have worked together in the past already as Roth’s turn here feel effortlessly convincing, down to the smallest gestures like when he once again communicates to his sister that he will not be coming back with her. I really think she did not know about his illness. He does not seem like a people person talking about life-changing events like this, not even to his closest relatives. Not a coincidence he is a bachelor at his age, even if he finds romance relatively quickly when on his own in Acapulco. Or maybe romance found him you could rather say. Perhaps trust issues. Just a lone wolf you can certainly say. A great character study in any case. The performance was just as good as the writing. Pity the Oscars will surely not remember this one next year. This film gets a positive recommendation from me and that was never in doubt. No matter if it is showing at a movie theater near you or airing on television, it’s a good way to spend 80 minutes, maybe less, and movie-wise you will not find many better exhibits with this runtime from the 21st century. Go for it!