Extraterrestrial (2011)

Don't you love it when a film can actually sneak up on you and surprise you, genuinely, and reveal itself to be something what is advertised ?In this case, how many alien invasion movies have we had in the past couple of years? The past couple of months even? Nacho Vigalondo's follow-up to his cult-sensation Timecrimes (sadly unseen by me) is a film that is nominally about a spaceship hovers over Madrid. Will it be an action movie, a thriller, something icky or something inquisitive (or all of the above,like in. Prometheus)?As it turns out, the alien invasion is somewhat of a cover, though not entirely, for what is really one of those often returned to tropes that I love when done right in films— an infidelity drama that spirals out of control. In this case, the film opens on a one-night-stand couple, Julio (Villagran) and Julia (Jenner, ho-ho), who awake a little disorientated, not sure what happened the previous and then notice the streets outside are abandoned and a giant spaceship in the sky. There is also a noisy neighbor, Angel (Areces) and the arrival a short time later of Julia's boyfriend, Carlos (Carlos Cimas), who is a genuinely nice and clueless guy.The first mistake Julio makes is to let slip to Angel about what happened the night before. After this, the spiral starts: how to not have Angel reveal the truth to Carlos, which involves Julio convincing Carlos that Angel is "one of them," the invading aliens. In what skates the line (like in a lot of the film) between comedy and actual suspense, Julio and Carlos bind and gag Angel (in one of those scenes where none of the characters are sure what to do, but have set the pieces in motion and have to follow them through). The paranoia continues with Carlos reaching out to confront other "extraterrestrials" that have landed. But this, in turn, leads to more sex between Julio and Julia while Carlos roams the streets. Lies spur on more lies. And then more craziness. And Angel returns. And why should I keep going on? The fun in Extraterrestrial is seeing what these characters will do when someone withholds information that should be trivial in the scope of, say, possible imminent doom. I've seen the film described in a couple of reviews as a romantic comedy, and it could be to an extent. But for me, its effectiveness is more as a kind of noir-ish story of a couple who shouldn't be lovers but are, and the comedy comes from their surprises and stumbles. However, the plot with Carlos isn't so funny as he becomes a sort of one-man crusader against the invasion that isn't really happening (or is it?).Vigalondo leads the audience in different directions as to where the story might go, but far from being confused, I was totally engaged. He has a solid sense of direction (how he tracks in and out of rooms at certain moments is psychologically satisfying, and has a touch of Hitchcock to it), and just when you think something might finally give with the Julio/Julia's conflict—to tell or not to tell the truth—the movie takes another turn altogether. And yet there is still some ambiguity (maybe) by the end of it all as to what is really going on, who may or may not be an alien in human disguise.Among the 2012 summer, overloaded with extraterrestrials and upteenth special effects, Vigalondo made a real sleeper, with unpredictable characters, wonderful performances, and a story that unfolds with real surprise and dramatic/comic consequences.

And what makes this movie laugh out loud funny, is that they aren't as concerned about the aliens in the flying saucer as they are that the girl's boyfriend might find out that she had a one night stand (probably after some heavy drinking, since neither can remember if they "did it" or not) with the guy still in her apartment when her boyfriend arrives shortly after they wake and discover the flying saucer. A third comic element, besides the saucer that no one is panicking about, and trying to keep the boyfriend in the dark, is that the weird nerd next door, who wants the girl too, inadvertently finds out about the one night stand, and threatens to tell the boyfriend. How the story progresses from here is what makes it hilarious. What makes it sweet is how the three males involved solve their problem and prove their love for the girl, each in their own way. And what happens with the flying saucer? You'll have to watch to find out.

Extraterrestrial is a Spanish movie where the aliens (apparently) invade Spain. I say apparently because you never once see an alien, you only see a fourth of a spacecraft that is essentially 4 miles wide.This movie is a love triangle between three characters and another annoying jealous guy who wants to make it a love square. He does ridiculous stuff to gain the attention of the only woman in the film, the woman he desires.That's it. There's nothing else to the plot.If this was a comedy, it failed at every level since I didn't even smile once. If this was a drama, I never showed any emotions for the characters depicted and could care less if any lived or died. This can't be considered action since nothing dramatic happened at all.What I can say is whatever this movie was supposed to be it wasn't and I struggled to watch the duration even though it was only about 90 minutes long.I like foreign movies and I watch a lot of them because most are better than the movies put out by Hollywood but give this one a miss cause there's nothing to take out of Extraterrestrial unless you're looking to see how boring and nonsensical a movie can actually be.

surprisingly good that is. everything works from the setup to the just enough characters, to the 'event', to the turning point, to all the flawed characters, to the length of the movie.***spoilers*** don't expect to see alien here, it is not that kind of movie. One way to put it is about how stupid unthougthful white lies can snowball, if you don't control it, it can ruin lives. Sounds serious but not really. The movie t is about 5% sci-fi; 35% comedy; 45% human studies of sort; and 15% drama.So everything started small and things escalate slowly - based on emotions of fear, longing and trust amongst 4 lead characters. Doesn't feel stagy (like stage play converted to movie) at all even though for most part it is confined to an apartment.And the director is funny guy - never before seen his movies, but he's good. During Q&A, he answered there's lots of movie where the film title is not defacto explanation of the film, or factual for the matter. As was there a straw dog in Straw Dogs ? Reall reservrio dogs in Tarantino's movie ?