Extraterrestrial (Nacho Vigalondo, 2011): Spain

Reviewed by Tresor Bayibsa. Viewed at the AFI fest 2011

Extraterrestrial was the first movie I have ever watched from the director Nacho Vigalondo but I must say it was a very interesting film. The director made this movie unique because Instead of focusing on the plot and how it drove the film, he focused more on the characters and how they would act under those kind of circumstances. The film is about these two strangers who wake up in the same apartment to find that their planet has been inhabited by spaceships while they were asleep. Now instead of making it an Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi movie. Nacho Vigalondo made it very realistic by making it a drama film with a twist of comedy in it. The characters in the film have already realized that their planet has been inhabited by spaceships and there is nothing more they can do than continue the life they were living under those circumstances. There was no hero who came to save the day and found a way to get rid of the aliens, instead we followed four peoples complicated relationship who are stuck in an apartment building together & are trying to make the best of the situation.

This movie gives us this realistic feeling that if we ever were to encounter life from another planet then this would probably be how most people would live their lives.