Two groups of cartographers travel in the heart of the Alps to establish to which country belongs a frozen body promising to become an anthropological discovery and boost tourism much like famed "Ötzi the Iceman" mummy. As they huddle together in a mountain shelter, they start to unravel the truth about the dead man, whose demise turns out to be both recent and violent.
Sounds intriguing, right? Well it isn't! I hate to write this, as it makes me sound like one of those loud, action-starving morons who infest modern movie theaters like rats, but the presentation of La Misura del Confine is as uncinematic as it gets. You don't need expensive set-pieces in a psychological thriller, but you DO need mystery, conflict and atmosphere to propel the story. Here the case is solved, I kid you not, by dusting off an old tome and reading it aloud as the group chats around a cozy lunch and quips about some tasty local meat specialty. I can picture Brian Cox' indignant script guru in Adaptation shaking his head and snapping "That's not a movie!".
And indeed, it's not. At least it's not a thriller or a murder mystery as it has been marketed. Scenery is pretty enough - that mountain hostel looks like a lovely place to spend a week-end surrounded by the beauty of the Alps - but this needed a script, not a touristic brochure.
4/10
Sounds intriguing, right? Well it isn't! I hate to write this, as it makes me sound like one of those loud, action-starving morons who infest modern movie theaters like rats, but the presentation of La Misura del Confine is as uncinematic as it gets. You don't need expensive set-pieces in a psychological thriller, but you DO need mystery, conflict and atmosphere to propel the story. Here the case is solved, I kid you not, by dusting off an old tome and reading it aloud as the group chats around a cozy lunch and quips about some tasty local meat specialty. I can picture Brian Cox' indignant script guru in Adaptation shaking his head and snapping "That's not a movie!".
And indeed, it's not. At least it's not a thriller or a murder mystery as it has been marketed. Scenery is pretty enough - that mountain hostel looks like a lovely place to spend a week-end surrounded by the beauty of the Alps - but this needed a script, not a touristic brochure.
4/10
