Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! Intense atmospheric crime drama told in a most creative way. A bizarre puzzle, the pieces of which do not go together easily. Clues are everywhere but this film is an exercise in the economy of words. There is very little dialog and every word spoken is vitally important to explaining the narrative. Subtle changes in expression speak volumes. There is a "tease" aspect to how this film is constructed. Writer/director Bellott unashamedly holds your attention through a confusing journey with the visual beauty, and emotionally compelling, Gus, played by the amazing Gonzalo Valenzuela. He gives an astonishing performance. This is a riddle more than a "once upon a time". Because of that, it is necessary to piece together the clues littered throughout and that may require more than one viewing. Thus, what's written here will be more of an autopsy than a review.
This film opens with Gus looking scruffy and road worn traveling on a bus to Ithaca. He is listening to "their song" on his IPod and caressing an object with his hand, recalling a past love, the heartbreak, and his reason for returning to Ithaca. His body is being bombarded by the familiar surroundings as the bus gets closer to where his lover broke his heart. As he walks down the hallway of the hotel toward his room he stops and glares at the room next door. Why? Because "he's" in there. We know from the opening of the film that a woman is also in there. She tells the desk clerk, "hold my calls", (I'll be busy having an affair). The woman's husband has put a hit on her because she is cheating on him. She is seen with her husband in one of the photos that came out of an envelope that was pushed under Gus's door along with a lot of cash. There is also a second photo laying on the bench near the first one. This one is of the woman and his lover, also a target, her now boyfriend. Alone in his room he tries to listen through the walls just to hear the sound of the man's voice. He yearns to reach through the wall dividing them.
Gus had an affair with the man sometime in the recent past. The man brought him to Ithaca Falls for the affair. There, he loved the man and the man broke his heart. By the way, Gus is a professional killer. And he's back in Ithaca on business. But it's hours away from go time and he's bored. He passes time with tarot cards. Then the most bizarre thing, of all the bizarre things, happens. He puts his ear buds in and lip syncs to Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You" while using his gun as a microphone. Believe what you see here.
When it comes time to do the hit, it's all business with the woman. He is not taking revenge on her. He and the man were already a relic of the past when she came along. He shoots her in the back of the head. In her sleep. For his lover, though, it's personal. The lover sits up, startled at the muted sound of the silencer, stunned to see Gus in his room. The man never even has the chance to see that his girlfriend has been assassinated. Gus shoots his lover twice twice in the heart. Then Gus lays next to him as he bleeds to death, in shock. It is important to note that Gus killed his lover, perhaps as part of an assignment, but for certain because he was hurt. Less for revenge, anger, or business, and more out of pain. In the opening credits there is a screen shot of a quote by Guillermo Bedregal, in Spanish, that translates more less this way: "To make your love fit, something would have to die in the world."
Gus's relationship with the man is told to us in fragments and in flashbacks. Notice the body language when Gus and the man are together. Gus is emotional and vulnerable and the man is looking off and saying things like, "Don't think about that now. Come here." In other words, "Let's not get heavy. This is just for fun." Very subtle and very deliberate directing.
We don't know what has happened when Gus returns to his room with blood on his face, then masturbates, then compulsively exercises trying to drive thoughts out of his head. Then a flashback. Gus asks the man, "if you ever leave me, can I come with you", the man responds by giving him a carving, (from the opening scene on the bus) of an animal (maybe an elephant?). Handing it to him he says, "Here, I found this. I thought you'd understand." The answer to his question is in the gift. What does this symbolize? Now, reference back to the poem, "Ithaca" by Constantine P. Cavafythat, that Gus's father use to read to him before he was killed along with Gus's brother:
"to stop at Phoenician trading centres, and to buy good merchandise, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,"
"Ithaka gave you a splendid journey. Without her you would not have set out. She hasn't anything else to give you."
She (he) hasn't anything else to give him. The man is referencing the poem to say, "This affair, in Ithaca Falls, is all there is." Holding the carving in his hand his eyes go dead. He senses the end. The feelings he is having are not going to be reciprocated. "Ithaca" has nothing more to give him. He bared his soul to the man about the loss of his father and brother. Cried as his lover read the poem "Ithaca" out loud to him. Now he's realizing that this encounter was just a one off thing. Perfidy!
This film opens with Gus looking scruffy and road worn traveling on a bus to Ithaca. He is listening to "their song" on his IPod and caressing an object with his hand, recalling a past love, the heartbreak, and his reason for returning to Ithaca. His body is being bombarded by the familiar surroundings as the bus gets closer to where his lover broke his heart. As he walks down the hallway of the hotel toward his room he stops and glares at the room next door. Why? Because "he's" in there. We know from the opening of the film that a woman is also in there. She tells the desk clerk, "hold my calls", (I'll be busy having an affair). The woman's husband has put a hit on her because she is cheating on him. She is seen with her husband in one of the photos that came out of an envelope that was pushed under Gus's door along with a lot of cash. There is also a second photo laying on the bench near the first one. This one is of the woman and his lover, also a target, her now boyfriend. Alone in his room he tries to listen through the walls just to hear the sound of the man's voice. He yearns to reach through the wall dividing them.
Gus had an affair with the man sometime in the recent past. The man brought him to Ithaca Falls for the affair. There, he loved the man and the man broke his heart. By the way, Gus is a professional killer. And he's back in Ithaca on business. But it's hours away from go time and he's bored. He passes time with tarot cards. Then the most bizarre thing, of all the bizarre things, happens. He puts his ear buds in and lip syncs to Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You" while using his gun as a microphone. Believe what you see here.
When it comes time to do the hit, it's all business with the woman. He is not taking revenge on her. He and the man were already a relic of the past when she came along. He shoots her in the back of the head. In her sleep. For his lover, though, it's personal. The lover sits up, startled at the muted sound of the silencer, stunned to see Gus in his room. The man never even has the chance to see that his girlfriend has been assassinated. Gus shoots his lover twice twice in the heart. Then Gus lays next to him as he bleeds to death, in shock. It is important to note that Gus killed his lover, perhaps as part of an assignment, but for certain because he was hurt. Less for revenge, anger, or business, and more out of pain. In the opening credits there is a screen shot of a quote by Guillermo Bedregal, in Spanish, that translates more less this way: "To make your love fit, something would have to die in the world."
Gus's relationship with the man is told to us in fragments and in flashbacks. Notice the body language when Gus and the man are together. Gus is emotional and vulnerable and the man is looking off and saying things like, "Don't think about that now. Come here." In other words, "Let's not get heavy. This is just for fun." Very subtle and very deliberate directing.
We don't know what has happened when Gus returns to his room with blood on his face, then masturbates, then compulsively exercises trying to drive thoughts out of his head. Then a flashback. Gus asks the man, "if you ever leave me, can I come with you", the man responds by giving him a carving, (from the opening scene on the bus) of an animal (maybe an elephant?). Handing it to him he says, "Here, I found this. I thought you'd understand." The answer to his question is in the gift. What does this symbolize? Now, reference back to the poem, "Ithaca" by Constantine P. Cavafythat, that Gus's father use to read to him before he was killed along with Gus's brother:
"to stop at Phoenician trading centres, and to buy good merchandise, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,"
"Ithaka gave you a splendid journey. Without her you would not have set out. She hasn't anything else to give you."
She (he) hasn't anything else to give him. The man is referencing the poem to say, "This affair, in Ithaca Falls, is all there is." Holding the carving in his hand his eyes go dead. He senses the end. The feelings he is having are not going to be reciprocated. "Ithaca" has nothing more to give him. He bared his soul to the man about the loss of his father and brother. Cried as his lover read the poem "Ithaca" out loud to him. Now he's realizing that this encounter was just a one off thing. Perfidy!