The controversial exploits of baby-faced Argentine serial killer Carlos Robledo Puch are exhilaratingly reinterpreted in this stylish biopic co-produced by Pedro and Augustin Almodóvar, nominated for the prestigious Un Certain Regard at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and Argentina’s Official Selection for the 2019 Academy Awards, El Ángel
The true story of Argentina’s most infamous and longest-serving criminal is one of such heightened drama it could easily be mistaken for fiction. With his latest film, director Luis Ortega mines the cinematic potential of this extraordinary tale, crafting one of the year’s most arresting thrillers. Carlitos (a revelatory Lorenzo Ferro) is a beautiful 17-year-old whose youthful appearance masks a criminal mastermind, much to the concern of his loving and upstanding parents (Cécilia Roth and Luis Gnecco).
When he starts at a new school, Carlitos meets his match in Ramon (Chino Darín), a handsome rebel who shares his unlawful interests. As the pair embark on a breathless journey of theft and murder, the press dub Carlitos ‘The Angel of Death’, transforming him into a media sensation. Bristling with vibrant energy and sizzling homoeroticism, this eccentric crime caper is a veritable feast for the senses, betraying a disturbing reality beneath the seductive punch of its immediate stylistic pleasures.
Tuesday 13th November
115 min
R18+
Film Festival
