What a strange film the José María Cicala (Alone) directed and co-written horror, The Dollmaker is. At times darkly comedic, at times disturbing, and at times bafflingly confusing. Strong performances from much of the cast and a Lynchian vibe, but would it all be a bit too odd for its own good?
In a remote Argentinian town, a new police inspector has arrived. Despite being assured that nothing bad ever happens there, he soon identifies that there has been a bunch of disappearances of young women in the area, and suspects they have been kidnapped or worse. Meanwhile, weedy yet likeable Tomás (Rodrigo Noya) is living his simple life as best he can. He works at the local video rental store, helps out at a nearby psychiatric centre, and looks after his disabled mother in the evenings. While attending a group therapy session at the psychiatric centre he encounters waitress Tina (Griselda Sanchez), and finds an immediate attraction to her, in time the two begin dating. Tomás is not entirely sane it turns out, with it heavily implied his mother is actually just a life-size doll, and wherever he goes, he sees blood stained hallucinations of his actual mother. Tina also happens to have a few issues of her own, mainly that she can see ghosts wherever she goes.
A very odd film which didn't so much tell a complete story as throw you into the middle of one that has been going on a long time already by film's beginning. Tomás made for a peculiar lead, a small, scrawny young man who is disarmingly innocent with his milk bottle bottom glasses that make his eyes appear huge, and his nervous, yet earnest smile. It is made clear early on that all is not right with the chap, but it takes a good while for the suspected confirmation of just how down the insanity slide he is. His relationship with the beautiful Tina felt so unlikely and out of place that I could not accept it as real. With so many hallucinations captured on film, I assumed this was all in his head or something, and so didn't give this part of the film the respect it deserved. The story in general played out well, but comes to an absolutely bewildering finish. Honestly, the last few minutes of the film went completely over my head, enough that I was unclear as to the actual resolution of the story. I think the ending wasn't meant to be taken literally, but I couldn't parse what it was trying to say.
There is plenty of black humour, none of this is 100% serious, as can be seen with the comically inept local police, and one actor playing three different roles as triplets. There are also some more darker scenes throughout, such as an uncomfortable rape scene early on, and people chained up and abused. Blood looked good on camera, and a satisfying enough amount of and there were a bunch of grim and brutally stark death scenes, all contrasting nicely with the worn out and dilapidated feel of the town the film takes place around.
The Dollmaker was something far different to what I imagined it would be about. A good cast and effective locations made for a memorable if strange film, and Noya made for a memorable lead. I can't say I was too impressed with how this all got resolved, and it was a bit strange but I was still held captive for the 100 minute runtime. The Dollmaker comes to North American VOD and digital on August 25th via Cinephobia Releasing. Rodrigo Noya won the award for 'Best Actor' in the movie's US premiere at Screamfest in Los Angeles.
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