Films: 2000s
(2004) Rojo Sangre
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Rojo Sangre
Director: Christian Molina
Release 2004
Playing the semi-fictional thespian Pablo Thevenet-presumably Naschy himself in this satanic roman a clef-Naschy gives the reins of the script over to Christian Molina, who wraps razor-edged tale in brilliant computer-enhanced form dissolves, sweeps, a seemingly endless menu of innovative cuts.
One thing "Rojo Sangre" illustrates, on a technical level, is the place of computer graphics in genre filmmaking. Not to create the monsters, but to create choices. Filmic choices. Just watching the picture move is a treat.
Thevenet is out of work, coasting on the rage he feels over his murdered daughter. He is alone in the world, and his star has faded, replaced by an industry he cannot abide, scripts he cannot fit, and an aging body he cannot controvert. It's a beautiful performance, an artful and textured exploration of diminishing relevance that not only rings true - it resonates.
Naschy steers Thevenet in darker directions, still. An exclusive nightclub, catering to the fetishistic tastes of the ultra-wealthy, wants a thematic doorman to portray serial killers and mass murderers. Thevenet is the actor chosen for the part, and against his better judgment puts his all into the wax-museum roles he portrays outside the venue.
And that leads to other work. He is cast as the director of a snuff film and gradually Thevenet's grasp of sanity slips. As his wallet fills and his age seems to slough away, Thevenet commits a series of bloody crimes - exacting a horrific revenge upon the industry that has forsaken him, against stand-ins for the people who killed his daughter, and finally against the very forces that corrupt him.
"Rojo Sangre" veers wildly over the top at this point, directing Thevenet from the realm of the purely psychologically to that of the overtly satanic. But Molina and Naschy maintain a spirit of reckless momentum throughout, and the film sustains, despite the transition.
It sustains because it is first and always a deep thrust into the belly of the human condition. Writer and director have sussed out, from the artistic condition, the core element of anger that fuels ambition, and that stills burns within the cooling shell as sagging skin and dwindling contacts atrophy the success of youth.
There is also the element of anger as it pertains to the brutal loss of family. Naschy is brave in that he never writes an explicit backstory to the murder of Thevenet's daughter. She is gone, he is mortally wounded in his soul, and the motivation to take up violence against the privileged, the arrogant, and the evil is further justifiable in the actor's mind.
Anger is really what "Rojo Sangre" is about. The "red blood" is the color of the burn, of the explosion, of the tearing enmity Thevenet has swallowed at every turn of indignity. More implicit than the typical revenge stories of "Friday the 13th" or "A Nightmare on Elm Street," Molina and Naschy show the life that fuels Thevenet's turn to darkness rather than exposit it via dialogue or flashback. It's the best choice for the story, and draws the audience closer to the material.
Once the film introduces the blatantly supernatural, it does lose some of this impact. But the twist is essential to elevating "Rojo Sangre" from a mere morality tale into one of spiritual proportion.
Much of what Thevenet grapples with is legacy, and immortality. What he will leave behind-although magnified as part of his pronouncements of the importance of his early career-is something the character clearly fears is not enough.
When the powers of darkness promise an extension on the time allotted to build his own legend, and endow him with the faculties to do so on a whole other level, "Rojo Sangre" transforms into a story about price. The price of victory over death, and ambition over self-acceptance.
Unfortunately, the structure crumbles a bit after this development. "Rojo Sangre" fails to deliver on the higher principles its last act tries to tackle. Thevenet's arc reaches no ultimate conclusion, just a kind of coda. What is meant by his journey is never resolved, and so the film is unsatisfying in that regard.
As a horror film featuring an older actor in a darkly self-referential tale, however, it stands as a visual and dramatic achievement. "Rojo Sangre" is Naschy's best work.
James O'Brien
Cinescare Staff
Rojo Sangre, 2004
Naschy steers Thevenet in darker directions, still. An exclusive nightclub, catering to the fetishistic tastes of the ultra-wealthy, wants a thematic doorman to portray serial killers and mass murderers. Thevenet is the actor chosen for the part, and against his better judgment puts his all into the wax-museum roles he portrays outside the venue.
