Detras del espejo

Set entirely within a small and grubby hotel, this film starts out with Ernesto doing dirty deals out of the hotel basement in order to earn more money to support him and his pregnant wife. When a woman overdoses in their hotel, Ernesto's wife goes to call the police however he knows he has more to be revealed than just this dead woman.

Detrás Del Espejo has a bigger story behind it but it focuses very tightly on a specific here and makes a short that stands on its own and gives you a lot with very little. The end result is that the film is very effective, gripping and satisfying in its delivery. The look and feel of the film translates well to the viewer and the camera works in low light to bring out the dingy and claustrophobic feel to the hotel – in terms of the look and atmosphere you know from the film that this is a hotel where people come to do things where they wish to be unseen, not a chain for business travellers passing through. Into this we have various threads whether it be the crime, the secrets, the conspiracy or others, all of it comes together to make a pressure cooker in the hotel and just as the viewer can feel the dirtiness of the place, the humid heat and stale air also seems to have been well conjured up.

It is short and self-contained which means you do not get everything but to me this works better because it delivers well on the focal points, building and increasing the tension as it goes.