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It is easy to get lost on YouTube. You at one point either land on a cat video, a very bizarre, disturbing video or a trailer for a movie you never knew existed. Last year I went through all three at once. I saw a cute little munchkin cat, a video on how to take a pregnancy test (the thumbnail was misleading. So was the title), and then I landed on the trailers for this film and Heartless. I have reviewed the latter, you can check that out. The trailer was uncompromising. Almost next to nothing was shown but it had me intrigued. The little girl particularly had me interested, and had me searching for this film for almost a year. The thing about these buried films - you know, underrated - is that not only they're elusive but they're as mysterious and attractive as the X marked on the map. Even if you find absolutely nothing, the trip can either be described as memorable or a waste. Let's say you found an empty chest, or nothing at all, but you met interesting people along the way, saw interesting sights, is it wasn't a total waste, was it? Same case with Childish Games - a.k.a Dictado or Dictation. It is a minimalistic psychological film that puts the characters first and the story second. Hell, we get to know the actual story at the 1 hour mark, and then there's only 30 minutes movie-time left.
It is a story of Daniel - played by the devilishly handsome Juan Diego Botto - and his wife, Laura - played by the stunningly beautiful Barbara Lennie - both school teachers, getting a visit from Mario - played in a brooding fashion by Marc Rodriquez - a childhood friend of Daniel, demanding that he sees his daughter. Daniel refuses and Mario suicides the very next way in the tub by slicing his stomach - right in front of his daughter, Julia. From the suicide onward expectation and reality meet at the crossroads. People were expecting a lot of jump-scares and ultra-violent or scary moments. Instead they got nothing but an even pace with a heavy emphasis on psychology-horror and surreal dreams with the main spotlight not being on the environment, but on the characters. They said they felt cheated because the film started them off on a wrong promise. Actually speaking, Childish Games makes no such promise. People got the wrong assumption. This is a psychological film, meaning a thinking film. The main horror lies not on what you see but on what you make out of it. I loved the slow pace and the time it took to reach to the main point. It played out in such a tantalizing manner that every progressing minute heightened my curiosity.
Daniel and Mario were briefly friends with each other as kids. The latter's sister, Clara, was a victim of the boys' prank gone wrong and ended up dead. From that moment on the boys parted, never to see each other again, except for one last time before Mario's suicide. One thing leads to another and Julia ends up in possession of Daniel and Laura, who then proceed to act as surrogate parents. At this point everything seems like as if all the puzzles of the jigsaw are in place. The young couple - who cannot produce a baby due to complications - get a child and the child got parents. Happy family, right?
From the point where Julia comes into the family, the film plays like Silent Hill away from home. A watered-down, even less minimalistic version of it. It plays on the theme on how your past catches up with you. If it was good, it makes your current life better. If it was bad, it can drive you crazy, make you even badder. Because of that one disastrous incident which involved the death of Clara, Daniel views Julia - who remarkably does and says the same things Clara used to do - as Red Pyramid disguised in a child's body. It also plays on how we compress these disastrous, or shameful if it may, incidents in the back of our minds, and count ourselves lucky that we went unpunished. But at one point or another, you have to confront it, get rid of it once and for all. Silent Hill lures people in and traps them. Daniel bought the horror home. A series of disturbing dreams, misunderstood intentions and psychological-weirdness erupts, with the shadow of Daniel's hidden monster becoming more and more pronounced on his face.
Antonio Chavarrias has some great directing skills. I wouldn't mind seeing another film by him, provided it is horror, too. He was careful of his stepping and did not let the film slip into senseless macabre or untasty gore. He kept things simple and, in a way, delightful, while also making a nod to the famous last scene of Carrie. It was eerily well done I must say. It only lasts a second but the effect is achieved.
The couple then go to the country-side to get away from it all. Once there, more light is shed on that fatal incident, bringing us full circle on what exactly happened. This is not a matter of whether it did or did not happen. It is a matter of who is Julia and how must Daniel confront it. The tone of the film increasingly gets darker and broodier, the pace goes from slow to sprinting and the last 10 minutes really hits some fast turns. Daniel knocks his wife out and begs for mercy at Julia, who tearfully forgives him. He then proceeds to bury her alive to get rid of this insanity once and for all but his wife intervenes. What I liked about this part is that Daniel doesn't fully become the monster, just someone who is scared and afraid to the point of being numb. In short, how most of us act in real-life, tight situations. Laura takes the child and demands that he clears the path so they can leave. Daniel refuses and lunges forward to kill the child but gets thrown over the cliff to his demise. He guilted, he suffered, he found redemption, and now he's dead. The circle is complete.
If there's anyone out there who can explain to me the significance of the shooting star that's reflected in Daniel's eye it will be very much appreciated.
Performance-wise, both the lead actors were great and convincing in their roles. Frankly speaking I was distracted by the attractive looks of Barbara Lennie and I didn't focus on her performance much. But from what I saw, I really did enjoy her performance, and Juan Diego Botto's performance, too. Magica Perez as Julia was quite-mesmerizing in her role. Her looks showed an innocent child but her eyes, man, were acutely haunting. She had the potential of achieving what Isabella Furhmann greatly achieved in Orphan, but sadly could not. Nevertheless, it really was a captivating performance and she made full use of her screen-time. Chemistry-wise, all 3 were immaculate. It felt so real, so perfect, so in sync. That is something not fully abundant in other movies!
In conclusion, if you're expecting a fast-paced horror film with jump-scares then this film is not for you. All in all, try it. Childish Games is now one of my favourite horror movies, and I will be re-visiting it again... soon!
8.0/10
