Beyond the Summit

Beyond the Summit (international title) stars Mateo (Javier Rey) who after saying goodbye his parents (Blanca Apilánez, Kandido Uranga), he faces for the first time the most dangerous mountain on the planet, the Annapurna, with the challenge of reaching the top and thus fulfilling an old promise . In his ascent he suffers a fall that leaves him unconscious and seriously injured .Seeking finally reach his goal of climbing in the Annapurna he has an accident, and hours later a woman climber who has been taking refuge attempts to help him. So he's rescued by Ione (Patricia López Arnaiz), an experienced mountaineer who is passing winter in a shelter, alone and removed from the world. Despite not understanding the reasons that have led Mateo there , Ione will try to help him reach his goal . Along the way , there's a psychological development and depicting the inner journey that both live.

An interesting and thoughtful film about human relations , including some thrills , emotion and wonderful snowy outdoors. We are facing a tour-de force between two fine roles perfectly played by Javier Rey and Patricia López Arnaiz since both are practically alone on the screen and the interpretative weight falls on them . We must also highlight the complete training and the demanding physical preparation that both actors had to carry out, and that is well shown on the screen. In many scenes, the viewer can see that they are the ones who are doing the risked scenes. In this way , the mountainous nature , the periculous environment and hostility of it become main elements of the film. And, thanks to cameraman Albert Pascual's cinematography work , the audience will immerse himself in this mountain and will suffer, at times, that anguish experienced by the protagonists .

Nice film with spectacular scenes , snowbound , thrills , emotion , rope and and piton daredevil drivel , and , of course , fight for life . The picture is pretty well , though the beautiful scenary fails -at times- to totally compensate for a great number of slow-moving scenes . Each person's true nature is revealed as they scale the peak , in which two climbers fight for vanquish their sad records . The main issue results to be the pain and misfortune that the two climbers suffer from past experiences and the subsequent dangers in which they encounter along the way , including difficult ascents of sheer rock face , and a fall down perpendicular mountain ice . With only two main actors and a little budget , the resources have been exploited to perfectly hide the problems of a complex filming at 3,000 meters high between Huesca and the French Pyrenees.

Duo of excellent protagonists giving good acting delivering philosophical debating and brooding talking , while filmmaker manages to include great touches of sentimentality. The film is nice enough ; however, slightly overwrought with several dreary lapses , but exciting and stirring .This one may be reminiscent of other productions and belongs to ¨Climbling Subgenre¨ with important films , such as " The White Tower" with Glenn Ford , Claude Rains , " The Eiger sanction" with Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, ¨K2¨ by Franc Roddam with Michael Biehn , Matt Craven and recently "Himalaya" with Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin. In addition, this ¨Beyond the Summit¨ deals with essential issues that are not usually seen on the screen such as the failure and depression that elite athletes can live when they have already reached the top of their career or the people who have lost a loved one and are not able to get rid of that pain. In short , it is a film that invites the viewer to reflect with two great interpretations by Javier Rey and Patricia López Arnaiz.

The motion picture was professional , though slow-moving paced by Ibon Cormenzana that shines in its intimate moments and in which the director wanted to show the values of mountaineering and fellowship in this sport through a story of individual improvement , as he focus not so much on the epic elements, but on the personal relationships . Ibon has only made three films : Jaizkibel , Alegría, tristeza and Los Totenwackers , though he has a long career as a writer and producer. He's written , directed and produced a number of short movies: Infinity (1996), Negra Rosa (1998), Media Luna (1998), 8, 9 y 10 (1999) and Silencios (1999) . He constituted 'Infinity Films in 1998 with the support of financial investors. In the year 1999 he also wrote 'Jaizkibel', that he produced and directed in the year 2000. The film was released in June 2001. During the first quarter of the year 2001, he developed the business plan for Infinity Films' expansion and searched for finance to carry it out. He then analysed a number of scripts and counsels in the writing process of the scripts acquired by Infinity. He produced 'Lo' - a thriller at the beginning of 2002, which will be released at the end of the year. At the moment, Ibon is preparing the production of his next film, '14 days with Victor' and worked and is working on the development of other productions. Rating . 6.5/10 . Decent and acceptable , though dull at times.