WORDS / LANCE ST. LAURENT

Ed. Note:  The 2014 Little Rock Film Festival brought a variety of films – local, domestic and international – to the Natural State. The Idle Class is reveiwing several of these films.

“To Kill A Man”
Dir. by Alejandro Fernandez

I must admit upfront, I did not finish To Kill a Man, the newest film from Chilean director Alejandro Fernandez Almendras. At 82 minutes, it’s a short film, but I found myself checking the door within fifteen minutes and giving up outright at about the hour mark. So, take this review with a grain of salt. That said, To Kill a Man is a laborious film to experience. The plot is as standard a revenge plot as popcorn thrillers like Death Wish, but given an art house flair by making the lead completely opaque and padding the runtime tedious stretches of dead air that are aiming for contemplative, but only come off as dramatically inert.

Daniel Candia plays Jorge, a family man who is mugged by a local gang. After his son is shot in an altercation with the gang, their leader Kalule (Daniel Antivilo) goes to prison for two years. Upon his release, he begins to torment Jorge and his family as a cartoonishly incompetent police force continues to ignore their pleas for help. Jorge, a timid and spineless man must then take the law into his own hands. Again, there’s little to distinguish the plot of To Kill a Man from countless other vigilante revenge films, save for its persistent dullness. I’d say avoid this one, but it’s unlikely to see any play outside of festivals. That’s fine by me.

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