El Conde (2023)
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El Conde Movie Review
El Conde is a 2023 Chilean black comedy horror film directed by Pablo Larrain and starring Jaime Vadell and Gloria Munchmeyer. It’s a narratively flawed, but visually dazzling flick.
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“If you want anything said, ask a man.
If you want anything done, ask a woman“
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Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is a two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old vampire. Now tired of his life, he wants to die at last after the disgrace and family crises he has caused. Pablo Larrain is one of the best international filmmakers that we have right now and this is probably his unique movie yet. But it’s also one of his weaker efforts as this story needed a bit more cooking under the oven.
There has probably never been such an authentic mixture between political commentary and horror. The movie is a satire, but it’s also very much a genre movie in its vampire tropes. Undeniably the very idea of these controversial politicians being depicted as vampires who continue to suck the blood from the country’s residents decades after his demise is a sound one. For anybody living in a country that has been ruined by one horrible political regime this film will prove to be highly relatable.
With that being said, no matter how cool the vampire imagery is (the flying scenes were particularly mesmerizing) and no matter how biting the satire seems, there is a lack of stronger characters, better pacing and a more effective ending that prevented the movie from fully landing.
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While Gloria Munchmeyer and Jaime Vadell were both very good in their respective roles, the characterization overall was rather weak and this type of movie needed stronger personalities. There is also a lack of momentum in its second half that started to drag quite a bit. The cinematography, on the other hand, is among the best of the year. The black-and-white photography is stunning, the production design superb and some of the imagery is absolutely striking. It’s an audio-visual marvel for sure.
El Conde is one of Pablo Larrain’s most unique, but far from his best movies. It offers this very authentic mixture of political satire and horror, delivering a terrific central metaphor and some wonderful genre thrills. It’s a visually dazzling film that offers some of the best cinematography of its year. It’s a shame, then, that the pacing is so problematic, characterization so weak and the second half quite disappointing.
My Rating – 3.5
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