Spanish with English subtitles

PG- Mature subject matter.

In the far south of Chile, a man arrives at an isolated island with little more than a bag over one shoulder. This is Manuel Ribera. The island is his inheritance.

The ensuing drama from co-directors Christopher Murray and Pablo Carrera is an impeccable study of solitude, inept dreams and the human desire for control in a disappointing universe. Working almost entirely without a complete script, Murray and Carrera alternated daily between screenwriter and director, one reacting to the other’s work, forming a film in a purely organic manner. This is all the more staggering since MANUEL DE RIBERA feels so tight and thematically cohesive as a narrative.

Gorgeously shot in desaturated greys and sad browns, this film incorporates local fishermen and villagers into a seamless and improvised story of one man’s wish to build a utopian community on his virtually undeveloped island. Inevitably poisoned by the failings of human apathy and lust for power, Manuel Ribera’s dreams turn as cold as the wet rains of this quiet cove of simple folk and simpler livelihoods. If all men are indeed islands unto themselves, then this film is the perfectly painful expression of such an existential notion. Loneliness has never looked so good.

TS