A legend superimposed on the screen imposes a tone from the beginning: “This film is based on real events. For legal reasons, many of the characters are fictitious. “Any resemblance to real events or people is purely coincidental.” To then delete the last part and correct it like this: “… it's a fucking coincidence.” A nuance of mischief, of playful hooliganism without entity that will mark the entire film. By The mail, directed by Daniel Calparsoro, written by Patxi Amezcua and Alejo Flah, will parade, among other corruptions, the Malaya case, Operation Emperor Gürtel case and the Falciani list. Some businessmen and politicians can sense it, although not fully recognize it; others, like the businessman of Chinese origin Gao Ping, have been drawn with all the strokes. However, this is by no means a political work.
The mail is Spanish audiovisual for centennials. An almost historical film, since a good part of its presumed viewers were not born or were in kindergarten when the events took place, destined to fill the theaters with the potential audience that has internationally elevated series such as The Money Heist and Elite. Arón Piper and María Pedraza, two television stars, as a teaser. A product with a pristine appearance, with the energy and color that Calparsoro usually gives to his work, although without complexity or substantive reflections. The perfect historical period, between 2002 and 2010, to articulate a thriller with touches of black comedy and a wrap of political corruption around a neighborhood hustler who ascends to the Olympus of money, sex and luxury. An example of Spanish picaresque from the third decade of the 21st century: lively, luminous, superficial and surely as deceitful as its protagonists, especially ethically. Lessons in political corruption for generation Z.
Arón Piper, good in the dialogues and gestures, although he still lacks a bit of personality in the numerous voice passages in off, He plays a young man from Vallecas with the excessive ambition of certain children of honest workers who had a hard time in life, and who one day decided to risk the somersault of crime so as not to have to fight as honestly as their parents. Thus, with his ability to interpret facts and (re)know people, he begins to work as a courier with briefcases loaded with black money. Travel in high-end cars from Madrid and Marbella to Brussels and Geneva. The necessary soldier of the getters and its 3%, while the taxpayers were in charge of paying for the white-collar chorizo party. A soldier who, of course, aspires to promotion, to have “everything.”
Carlos Jean's music, digital photographic effects and Calparsoro's staging provide commercial strength. The prestigious mature secondary players (Luis Tosar, Luis Zahera, José Manuel Poga) give security to the team. But in the end the film, quickly consumed and thick like an out-of-date shortbread, ends up being, in a way, a victim of itself and of what it is supposed to denounce. Because despite the warning texts and attitudes introduced in the script, in the mouths of characters such as the boy's father and the honest police officer, the protagonist's life journey can be a reason for fascination rather than revulsion for younger people.
A kind of “despite everything, it was worth it” that does not make the film better or worse, since it is the choice of its authors, as legitimate as the freedom of art and spectacle, but it does devalue the product category. . As opulent and false as the tricks of its characters.
The mail
Address: Daniel Calparsoro.
Performers: Arón Piper, Luis Tosar, Laura Sepul, María Pedraza, Luis Zahera, José María Poga.
Gender: thriller. Spain, 2024.
Duration: 101 minutes.
Premiere: January 19.
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