Los Parecidos (2015)

Los Parecidos: Directed by Isaac Ezban. With Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Fernando Becerril, Humberto Busto. On the rainy night of October 2, 1968, eight characters waiting on a remote bus station for a bus heading to Mexico City start experiencing a strange phenomenon.

“In case youu0026#39;re a huge fan of nostalgic Sci-Fi/horror movies from the fifties and sixties, or an admirer of landmark and genre-determining TV-series like u0026quot;The Twilight Zoneu0026quot; or u0026quot;Alfred Hitchcock Presentsu0026quot;, then u0026quot;The Similarsu0026quot; is undoubtedly the best motion picture youu0026#39;ll see this year (and probably in the next few years to come). Iu0026#39;m a tremendous fan of the aforementioned decades and titles and I instantly knew I wanted to see this one as soon as I laid my eyes on the fantastic old- school film poster, what with its lovely use of green shades and its illustration of a hysterical face covered in bandages. The poster seems to come straight out of the sixties, and so does the entire movie, in fact. Writer/director Isaac Ezban was present at the Brusselsu0026#39; International Festival of Fantastic Films, where I watched it, and openly declared his love and devotion for the genre as well as his fascination for all the external influences, political and social, that were processed into the screenplays of the movies back then. Ezban tried to do the same with u0026quot;The Similarsu0026quot; and I can easily confirm that he succeeded, since the story he invented here is easily one of the most original and imaginatively refreshing ones Iu0026#39;ve seen in a long time. In the fall of 1968, in a little village that is located in five hours driving distance from Mexico City, a handful of people are stranded in an old bus station. They are desperately waiting for the next bus, but it wonu0026#39;t come since all public transport is disrupted due to the unusually heavy rainfall. Some more people strand at the station and via the radio they learn that the rain showers apparently form a worldwide issue and the drops might even be acid. Inside the station the tension mounts between the stranded passengers and inexplicable phenomena start to occur. The peopleu0026#39;s faces gradually begin to alter and look exactly like the face of Ulises, the man who arrived at the bus stop first. Álvaro, a fanatic med student on his way to the protest mars in the city, is convinced that Ulises is part of a secret governmental experiment, but given strange nature of the events, itu0026#39;s far more likely that paranormal forces are at work. Isaac Ezban, with the help of his wonderful ensemble cast of course, truly brings to life some essential aspects of sixtiesu0026#39; cinema, most notably the Cold War paranoia, the ominous atmosphere as well as the consecutive series of inexplicably supernatural occurrences. To give just one example, the scene where the baffled characters discover that not only their own faces but also those in magazines and on wall posters is a masterful slice of cinematic craftsmanship. Of course, and inevitably, u0026quot;The Similarsu0026quot; isnu0026#39;t entirely without flaws. Sci-Fi flicks from the old days as well episodes from u0026quot;The Twilight Zoneu0026quot; were particularly effective just because they only had running times of around 60 minutes or even less. Although not exaggeratedly lengthy, u0026quot;The Similarsu0026quot; occasionally feels a bit tedious and, especially when reaching the finale, overlong. Ezban also has a few issues to properly explain all the mysterious events near the end and all too easily ends his film with a stern voice-over reciting a kind of text like u0026quot;some things in this universe simply canu0026#39;t be clarifiedu0026quot;. On the other hand, thatu0026#39;s typically old school Sci-Fi as well! u0026quot;The Similarsu0026quot; is a very good and joyful movie to watch, preferably amidst a large crowd (for example a festival) where you can share your amazement at some of the plot twists with fellow genre admirers.”