There are certain themes in both literature and cinematography that are ‘instant killers’ for audiences; usually, fans go for mystery, crime, superhero related films or dramas, and if the creator can combine all or most of them, the result can be a big hit on the market. Gonzalo Menéndez, however, combined in ‘Mr. Larraín’ most of these features only to obtain a result that can be a real smash on the audience. Just as a great chemist, he added a little bit of mystery, some small dose of drama, a tablespoon of "villain" and a tiny sip of crime. The result is a short movie that has the intensity of a feature and the runtime of superhero movie fight. This is what ‘Mr. Larraín’ basically is.

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Sebastián Larraín (played by Matías Oviedo) is a quiet and careful guy that does everything in perfect order – whenever he takes his watch off, he places it near his bed in a perfect position, his hair is always combed, and his clothes are perfectly ironed with no visible wrinkles. At some point, he is so ‘clockwork’ it becomes terrifying, but as a viewer, you don’t really know why. When he goes out to eat in a diner, his inner craziness bursts like a blossoming flower, making the reality around him be perceived just as in a Quentin Tarantino movie… but only in his head. When he arrives home, the unexpected prevails, and we see him being the most he can be, and feel like the past fear that came with his perfect thoroughness has an explanation. One of the last shots with him eating at the table in an 'American psycho’ mood draws the final lines of this great story.

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For us, the narrative wasn’t new, as we’ve seen the psycho typology many times before in numerous movies, doing eighty percent of the things Sebastián Larraín did. What caught our attention, however, was the perfect manner in which the main character was created as a typical villain from a superhero movie, but placed in a different setting, and acting like The Joker from ‘Batman’ or Hannibal Lecter from 'Hannibal' where, trapped together in the same body and after various fights, they started to take over the body with their power, craziness, and cruelty combined. The result is shocking and spectacular at the same time. This is one of the few short films we’ve watched recently where there was no need for horror to make us check the room twice before we turned off the lights at night.

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Written by Vlad A. G