The Embalmer (2003)

This was the first film I saw at the '03 ND/NF, which means that at the very least, I got the dog out of the way early on. This sub-literate attempt at a psychological thriller feels like a neophyte director's attempt to squish together three or four different ideas that don't really belong together in order to lend his film some semblance of "depth" or "complexity". Instead, it comes off as fragmented and poorly thought out. So imagine my surprise when I learned that this represented the director's third go at a feature-length film. You'd think a director with that much experience would know how to put together a coherent or, at least, an interestingly lensed film. No dice -- in addition to being meandering and badly plotted with loose ends twisting in the wind like a fly-laden No-Pest Strip, the film is visually drab. When it does try to shoot for something that might spice up the mise-en-scene, it either feels derivative ("atmospheric" underlighting, pointlessly long and languid medium-focus shots) or just plain ol' stupid (the strange decision to shoot the inital meeting between our two male leads from the POV of a large vulture-like bird). Ernesto Mahieux's enthusiastic performance is wasted, and any film that can waste a good performance by a midget is a sad film indeed. About all the praise I have for this film is my appreciation for the female lead's frequent nudity.

Grade: D