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‘Kidnapped’ plays with storytelling conventions
Though working under some budget constraints, director Miguel Angel Vivas found ways to offer a fresh spin on the home-invasion horror genre with his movie “Kidnapped.”
As they move into their new house, Jaime (Fernando Cayo) and Marta (Ana Wagener) are portraits in contrasting personalities. She is nervous and controlling, while he is calm and somewhat detached. Living amongst, though not necessarily with, them is their 18 year-old daughter Isa (Manuela Velles), who simply wants to spend time with her boyfriend. Jaime is content to let his daughter make her own choices, while Marta attempts to hold onto the young lady who is obviously ready to leave the house, literally and figuratively.
Amidst the minor familial strife, criminals break into the family’s house in a botched robbery attempt that spirals into violence and forces the mother and daughter closer.
Although the home invasion leads to some predictable, if not uniquely and graphically violent, results, Vivas provides a bit of a face-lift to the genre by using the first act of the film to develop the family as a set of original and three-dimensional characters, thus making the movie not just about the invasion but the people inside the house. In order to flesh out the characters, the director said in the translator-assisted Q&A that he rehearsed with the actors for three weeks before the two-week shoot.
In addition to the elements of character development, Vivas also found cinematic ways to lend originality to his violent film. The Spanish director said he made the movie using only 12 extended shots in an attempt to keep the hyper realism of the narrative. The result is an engaging and thrilling take on a movie that nevertheless felt somewhat familiar.
“Kidnapped” screens at 12:35 p.m. on Tuesday at Alamo South.
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