Extraterrestre (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011): Spain

Reviewed by Seth Lawyer. Viewed at AFI Fest 2011.

Extraterrestre is a film about three people caught in a love triangle during an alien encounter.  Although I was expecting a sci-fi I must say i was pleasantly surprised at director Nacho Vigalondo’s ability to keep you interested in the characters’ dilemma without ever showing more than a portion of the spaceship.  Usually when you have a certain expectation of a movie and it doesn’t fulfill that expectation you feel let down and lose interest quite quickly.  Not this time.  Julia and Julio give a very comical performance in trying to keep Julia’s Boyfriend Carlos from knowing she was being unfaithful. Angel, Julia’s obsessed neighbor finds out the truth and tries to tell Angel the truth but is countered by the notion that Angel is an alien and going crazy which leads to an amusingly frantic attempt to get rid of him while trying to keep Carlos from hearing anything Angel has to say.   Ultimately the film turned out great even though I didn’t get to see any sci-fi action.  Nacho is a great director and I plan on seeing Timecrimes as soon as I can get my hands on it.