After a night of hard partying, Julio (Julian Villagran) wakes up in an unknown apartment and is pleasantly surprised when he finds that he had a one night stand with a beautiful chica, coincidentally named Julia (Michelle Jenner). As the two try to get past their awkward morning encounter, they soon discover that the city has been evacuated and that there has been an invasion of alien ships, with one hovering very close to Julia’s apartment. When Julia’s oddball neighbor Ángel pops by for a visit and Julia’s ex-ish boyfriend returns to save her, that’s when everything starts to get interesting in this witty, character driven Spanish comedy.
Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Extraterrestrial is a film not about an alien invasion, but rather four characters trying to survive each other and the lies they’ve created. Julio and Julia try to hide the fact that they had sex from Carlos (Raúl Cimas), the boyfriend, but Ángel (Carlos Areces), the neighbor who is secretly in love with Julia, threatens to expose their secret. So Julia and Julio do what any person would do, create a semi-believable conspiracy against Ángel whic is pretty clever, dirty, wrong and funny.
The concept of an alien invasion as the backdrop to a romantic comedy is a pretty smart and original idea compared to most of the rom-com fodder we are exposed to today. The issue though is that no plot summary will tell you that you never see an alien and the closest thing you get to an extraterrestrial is the generic looking spaceship hovering in the sky, rotating like a mobile ready to put a baby to sleep. That said, it makes the idea of people evacuating the city kind of pointless if nothing is actually happening with the aliens. The group we focus on fear for their lives to a certain extent but there is never actually any real threat except from each other, but in a way that’s the point.
It’s not as funny or clever as I had been lead to believe but the extremes to which Julio and Julia’s lies are taken makes for some entertaining cinema. It’s Carlos and Ángel who keep the film on its feet and provide most of the comedic relief, particularly because of Ángel’s determination to ruin Julio and Julia’s growing relationship after being kidnapped and Carlos, well, his entire gullible existence is just too funny. All he wants to do is save the world and so he ends up taking the the secret couple’s lies too far and too literally without doing much investigating on his own.
The one thing I have to give Vigalondo credit for is the reason he uses for explaining why the aliens came to earth in the first place: they came for the hell of it. I wish other sci-fi flicks would occasionally take this approach with aliens instead of giving them a legitimate reason, coming because they can just makes an invasion hilarious. I also admire the way he ended the film, not too sappy, not too cliché; it’s an ending that is in line with the style/tone of the film and leave you feeling satisfied.
Overall, Extraterrestrial is your slightly above average rom-com but painted on a much more interesting canvas. The on-screen chemistry between the actors was fantastic, even if all the performances weren’t amazing, and the comedy is mostly dry and very dialogue/bickering driven, much like every Woody Allen film you’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for something different to watch that’s also pretty light, it can’t hurt to give this Spanish comedy a shot.
Rating: A cool and different idea that offers a lot of wit, a few chuckles and no aliens (6/10)
Extraterrestrial is now available on VOD from Focus World
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