a review of 千面人

El hombre de las mil caras is the second film by Alberto Rodríguez that I've seen. The first one was La isla mínima, which I liked very much. El hombre de las mil caras tells the semi-true story of Francisco Paesa, a spy who managed to successfully hide Spain's most-wanted man and his huge load of money. Spy movies have a risk to become boring, because it's often not action, but dialogues such films rely on. Rodríguez manages to fill two hours with mostly dialogues in shady rooms while maintaining a certain tension that keeps the film from becoming boring. You can feel the paranoia of the main characters, and the constantly lurking danger of them being caught is haunting. As in La isla mínima, the audiovisuals are delicious. Great lighting, impressive staging, and effective use of music to increase tension. I have to say that I liked La isla mínima more than El hombre de las mil caras, but I definitely enjoyed myself again, and I'm looking forward to exploring more Rodríguez productions.