film
Sundown
directed by Michel Franco, Mexico / France / Sweden 2021, 83'
- Latest film by Michel Franco (Chronic, New Order) was a revelation at the Venice Film Festival. Sundown surprisingly blends thriller and love story, the abrupt plot twists tempered by a tender melancholy. The story of a holiday in Acapulco taking an unexpected turn is full of narrative twists and turns, sudden revelations, moments of horror, stunning sunsets and radical decisions.
- Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Neil (Tim Roth) are on holidays at the famous Mexican resort. The luxurious idyll is interrupted by an unexpected phone call that forces them to change their plans. A temptation arises in Neil’s mind to change his life completely. Set between luxury and squalor, privilege and the lack thereof, the fullness of life and its decadence, Sundown raises questions about what really makes us happy. Money? Love? Relationships? Or the lack of them?
- After Chronic, Sundown is Michel Franco’s next collaboration with Tim Roth, here in undoubtedly one of his finest roles to date. His protagonist doesn’t reveal his secrets until the end, with the director as an accomplice who deceives and misleads us. And that’s yet another topic of Sundown: the appearances we fall for so easily, judging instead of seeking the truth and taking hell for paradise.
