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flick pick | Thesis 1996 Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar Written by: Alejandro Amenabar, Mateo Gil Starring: Ana Torrent, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega Language: Spanish [with English subtitles] Look for it at the video store under: foreign [Spain] Watch it when you’re in the mood for something: action-packed, mindbending  The critic says: ½/ 5 the rating system explained Fun factor: /5

Plot synopsis University student Angela is working on her thesis, a look at violence in the media. At her request, her advisor ventures into the school’s film and video vault to find some particularly violent images to which Angela can’t get access as a student. When the professor stumbles across a hidden room full of videotapes, he grabs one and then sneaks into a classroom to watch it. The next day, it’s Angela that finds him, sitting in the classroom chair, dead of an asthma attack. Realizing that it’s the video she requested that killed him, she grabs the tape and runs off. Simultaneously horrified by her mere imaginings of what must be on the tape, and terribly curious as well, she ends up bringing the tape to an oddball new friend of hers, Chemo, who happens to collect hardcore porn and gore films. Together, they watch the video, and witness a real-life murder taking place. Chemo even recognizes the girl, a fellow university student who disappeared over a year ago under mysterious circumstances, in a case that was never solved. Soon, and despite their semi-reluctance to get involved – Angela in particular feels repelled by the violence, even as she finds herself sucked into the mystery -- the two find themselves trying to track down the killers … and getting hunted themselves as they get closer to uncovering the truth.

Review Ridiculous, I know, but there’s a little part of me that tends to assume that if the movie’s not American, it must be arty (Hong Kong movies alone are excepted in this bias of mine). Which is why when I’m in the mood to be entertained, I don’t generally head towards the section of the video store where they keep all the subtitled movies. Spanish writer/director Amenabar’s Open Your Eyes was actually pretty entertaining, but decidedly artsy as well – and so I have to admit, I was expecting something similar when I grabbed the video of his earlier film, Thesis, off the video store shelf. Instead, Thesis feels very much like a quintessential Hollywood-style blockbuster psychological thriller, complete with wide-eyed, overly-inquisitive heroine, acerbic sidekick, and a mysterious, charming stranger who may or may not be the villain. What distinguishes Thesis from the vast array of thrillers populating the local multiplex is that it’s intelligent, well-paced, and genuinely full of bite-your-fingernails, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense, a combination that’s sadly all too rare. The movie makes its point about how media simultaneously creates this sick fascination while at the same time feeding an already existing dark need – we watch the violence because we’re constantly bombarded with it, yet it’s there because we want to watch – but never really delves deeper beyond into positing the whys regarding society’s voyeuristic obsession with violence. The message ends up sounding a bit superficial, but the movie’s such a tension-packed, twist-filled, terrifying thriller that you’ll find yourself engrossed on a visceral level anyway, if not a deeply philosophical one. Thesis is just fantastically creepy. Watch this movie – just don’t watch it alone.
—reviewed by Y. Sun

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