Upon Entry – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

Upon Entry is a seventy-seven-minute-long Spanish psychological thriller set almost entirely in one space, yet you can’t take your eyes off it. This festival blockbuster has won almost thirty awards worldwide, with critics hailing it as a ‘masterclass in suspense’.

Diego and Elena want to start a new life in the United States. They have seen to all the formalities but are detained at New York airport. An interrogation by the migration services calls into question not only their reasons behind the move, but also their relationship. How much do they really know about each other? How many secrets can their relationship endure? How quickly can one lose trust in their partner? Upon Entry raises uncomfortable questions, multiplies doubts, sows the seeds of anxiety and spreads an intricate web of suspicion around the characters.

Set in a claustrophobic atmosphere, where every eyelid twitch and every drop of sweat count, this film is reminiscent of other minimalist and precisely directed productions such as The Guilty and Locke. However, behind an intimate story about a relationship whose fate is hanging in balance before our eyes hides  a discussion about invisible privilege, bad origins and people who are afraid to fly, even though it is not altitude that makes them panic. After all, the relationships between the US, Europe and the rest of the world are as complicated as those between people, and crossing borders is always risky.