A Mexican-Ecuadorian production, “Cronicas” does suspense awfully well. And “awful” is the word – this film has an ending that qualifies as truly stomach-churning.
In the first five minutes of the film, we observe a man, Vinicio (the impressive Damian Alcazar) covering up something suspicious. It doesn’t take long to figure out what he’s been up to: The local countryside in Ecuador has been terrorized by a killer, “The Monster,” who’s been raping and murdering children.
At the funeral for a group of dead children, Vinicio accidentally hits and kills a boy with his truck, prompting a chaotic, frightening scene of lynch mob violence. It’s all caught on tape by a news crew covering the funeral.
| Gritty: A news crew for a Latin American program gets involved in the case of a child-killer in Ecuador, a gritty and suspenseful story. John Leguizamo is excellent in his first Spanish-language role. (In Spanish, with English subtitles.)
Rated: R rating is for violence, language, subject matter. Now showing: Varsity. |
The crew is on the scene for a Miami-based Spanish-language news show popular in Latin America. Their star reporter, Manolo (John Leguizamo), is the public’s enterprising hero, a young, cocky guy who doesn’t mind signing autographs or putting himself into stories.
When Vinicio is tossed in prison after the riot – no one suspects him in the child killings – Manolo follows a hunch and interviews him there. He’s just looking for a human-interest angle, because Vinicio’s wife is pregnant and his son was friends with the boy who was killed in the accident. But suddenly, Vinicio begins making like Hannibal Lecter, hinting that he knows something about the murderer – and Manolo takes the Jodie Foster part, stunned and out-pointed.
Their back-and-forth gamesmanship forms the backbone of the rest of the film. Manolo decides to share his information with his producer (Leonor Watling), with whom he happens to be having an affair, and their cameraman. But not with the police.
“Cronicas” (or “chronicles”) feels like Oliver Stone’s “Salvador,” a tough, propulsive suspense piece that also peers into the workings of media. The film takes as a given that TV news leaps on sensationalistic stories and shamelessly hokes them up, a charge it is hard to argue with these days.
Writer-director Sebastian Cordero takes a gritty, hand-held approach, but the film unfolds with a sophisticated logic – the final 10 minutes are as sickening as they are inevitable. Plus, he gets terrific work out of Colombian-born John Leguizamo, doing his first Spanish-language role. Leguizamo can be annoying when he’s going full blast, but here he throttles down for a troubling turn.
John Leguizamo stars in “Cronicas.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
