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Hola amigos, buenas vibras para todos.
**Hello friends, good vibes to all.
Sometimes I think one is masochistic to seek to see things that we know almost for sure we will not like or convince us but still there we are, faithful to the cinephile curiosity to discover new productions. "I Came By" or in Spanish "Yo estuve aquí" is a new thriller that Netflix brings us from the hand of Hugh Bonneville, an actor who became known for the series Downton Abbey and that this time comes to be the sinister character of this story that is not bad but certainly has its things that make it falter a little when we try to analyze the whole plot and its development.
Basically it is a story where suspense is the main ingredient, where that constant anxiety about what might happen is constant and that on several occasions surprises you to the point of saying a word or two because you did not expect what was going to happen. It is not the most worthy Netflix movie by far but I have to say that it entertained me more than it should have, because one is a masochist and the truth is that I did not expect that. And I didn't expect it for a couple of reasons, because it's Netflix and because we are facing a genre which is extremely complicated to achieve. But well, what we came to and let's talk a little of this new thriller.
The story centers on a couple of young men Toby (George Mackay) and Jay (Percellle Ascott) who are urban graffiti artists and all they do is go to the homes of upper class, wealthy and status people and graffiti inside the properties just to show that they were able to circumvent security and also because there is some resentment towards those people which comes from the way of thinking of one of them. The thing is that everything gets complicated when in one of those houses Toby discovers a very disturbing secret, one that will bring many problems and eventually dangers to the people closest to him.
The house in question belongs to Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville), a retired judge who lives his life quietly and suddenly all that tranquility will be broken thanks to this pair of boys. From here the plot will focus on discovering what Blake is hiding in his basement, what was it that left Toby speechless and how suddenly everything goes to big words to the point that the police themselves begin to ask questions and suspect the judge who in theory is a respected person in the upper echelons of society. But as all that glitters is not gold, soon the same plot will take us on a journey where shady things that were hidden in the past will be discovered.
Being a thriller clearly what reigns is the perennial suspense that there is during almost the entire film, I say almost because it starts a little slow, at first what we see is like a presentation of the characters, their life contexts which will make us understand a little better the way of being and acting of each one. As the minutes go by the plot becomes a little more entertaining because we are getting into the problem fully, one that will keep you with your eyes open and attentive to everything that can happen because yes, there are a couple of scenes that make the viewer have that reaction of astonishment / shock to be something that obviously catches us off guard, those things although they may be clichés are appreciated.
But like any film of this style has its things that must be seen with tweezers, surprisingly my criticism is not directed to the bottom of the plot but to the form, because the suspense is there, the intrigue is there; it is what those involved do to make the tension rise or not or to give more life to the story. There are very obvious situations where a thinking person with common sense would act in such a way, the issue is that here that common sense does not seem to exist and that is when the saying "it only happens in the movies" applies, at least to me they take me out of the "mood" when these things happen because they take away credibility and weight to the plot.
As for the characters we can talk about Hugh Bonneville. He is a rather dark character who is moved by events and traumas of his past that left him marked and that these psychological wounds kind of dictate the path he follows in his life, they are things that logically he has not overcome and that makes those frustrations to be paid by other people. I feel that he is the typical psychopath, the average of all movies where his life is a facade and that under the suit of kindness hides a real monster, one that if he is not disturbed then he will continue to do his atrocities. Hugh's performance is good, at least decent, he didn't need to have a hostile or violent attitude in excess to look like a complete sociopath.
The two young men are the typical rebels that when things come down on them their true personality comes out, very tough on the outside but in the end they are cowards with family problems. One of them is the one who is against everything, against the system and against what they want to impose on him, the other one is a little more centered but due to circumstances that he had to live. But the mother of one of them, Lizzie (Kelly Macdonald) is the one who injects more drama to the story, a mother who is a psychologist and who in turn has to deal with many things including the indifference of his son is like a paradox the truth. Her actions, moved by a mother's love, is what I question, very obvious things that were done wrong but that she saw them as necessary in her world. It wasn't terrible but for me it was the weak point of this plot.
Overall a more decent film than I thought it would be, but still not quite convincing. The story is very good, always the psychological problems taken to the extreme can be very striking as terrible as that sounds, there is a suspense that does the job, I'm not complaining about that and some pretty average performances, nothing extraordinary. Again Netflix putting out a product for the sake of putting it out and that's it. I give it a 7/10 because it's watchable, it entertains you, you get to be a little startled and because it's the typical movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon. It lasts less than two hours. I leave you the trailer so you can take a look at it.
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Bueno mi gente por hoy es todo, espero que les haya gustado. ¡Un abrazo a todos, nos vemos en la próxima!
***Well my people that's all for today, I hope you liked it. ¡A hug to everyone, see you next time!
