Alberto Rodríguez
La Isla Mínima

Spain, 1980. The Franco regime had fallen five years earlier, but its aftermath continues to survive in Spanish society.

This historical context sets the stage for a classic-style detective story, set in a small town in Andalucía. It is here that the two policemen Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) and Pedro (Raúl Arévalo; a sort of Hispanic Sean Penn) find themselves dealing with the disappearance of two teenagers from the local village, which took place during the town festival.

Serving as an introduction to the "film" by Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez are some splendid aerial panoramas with a fixed frame on the Andalusian landscape, a personified protagonist of the story. The delta of the Guadalquivir River, rice fields, marshes, old abandoned farmhouses (in which to hide): a place far from civilization and from which everyone wishes to escape.

"La Isla Mínima" is a thriller-noir that does not stray too far from the genre's standards: the detective duo is now a standard, already seen earlier in Fincher's "Se7en," "Memories of Murder," and, more recently, in True Detective. The most evident analogies, in particular, are with (the first season of) Nic Pizzolatto's creation: the relationship between the protagonists, the importance of the natural environment, the plot (and even certain dreamlike visions) unite the two mysteries (shot almost simultaneously).

However, there are also differences with the HBO series, and precisely these last represent the weak points of the feature film in question. More than the nihilistic dialogues of McConaughey's Rust, what is missing here is the lack of psychological development of the relationship between Juan and Pedro. Their dualism is only hinted at and relates almost exclusively to a political divergence (also only hinted at).

With the discovery of the young women's bodies, the film becomes a mystery where the two will try to identify the serial killer. The duo, sometimes using unorthodox methods (especially on Juan's part), will try to overcome the silence of the local population, with a shadowy hand hindering the investigations.

The only weak point of the film is, therefore, the screenplay which, although not poorly written, does not always align with the evolution of the narrative (some details of Pedro's private life are not particularly functional to the story). Overall, however, Rodríguez proves he can manage the pace impeccably and, aided by excellent use of cinematography (tending mostly towards warm colors), manages to produce a highly credible crime story that stands well against Hollywood-made productions.