 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Muse • Year: 2017 • Country: Spain, Ireland, France, Belgium • Director: Jaume Balagueró • Main cast: Elliot Cowan, Ana Ularu, Franka Potente • Runtime: 107 minutes • Production company: Castelao Pictures, Fantastic Films, Filmax Entertainment • TRAILER |
Muse is one of these movies director Jaume Balagueró is very comfortable with. Since his debut in feature films with The Nameless (1999), and through his first international works in English language Darkness (2002) and Fragile (2005), he has built a career in creating dark tense atmospheres and obscure images. Maybe that’s why after his drenched in blood zombie extravaganza movies from the [REC] saga, and other thrillers more into psychological horror than the supernatural like Sleep Tight (aka Mientras Duermes) (2011), I think this follows what could be considered a typical Balagueró movie.
Muse is an international production with an international casting filled with popular names like Franka Potente, Christopher Lloyd, Joanne Whalley and Leonor Watling, one of Almodóvar’s last years muses (no pun intended). The movie is placed in Ireland, where a literature professor has been off work for almost a year after the tragic death of his girlfriend. But lately, he has been suffering from a recurring nightmare in which a woman is brutally murdered by a strange ritual. Suddenly, the same woman who appears every night in his dreams is found dead in exactly the same circumstances. In order to find some answers and find a path to his inner peace, the professor sneaks into the crime scene and there he meets Rachel who has also dreamed about the murder. The plot start point sounds quite common in these sorts of films, which is true, but the movie still can provide a few surprises.
The movie has been written by director Jaume Balagueró together with Fernando Navarro, who is also writer one of the best Spanish horror films of this season, Veronica (2017). The script is based on a novel written by José Carlos Somoza. And we have to admit somehow the narrative of the movie is closer to a novel than a film, so in my opinion, that’s a mistake made by the filmmakers.
On the negative side, music and cinematography are kind of tiresome, showing a good lack of originality and making the movie a tiny dull to watch to the audience. But the direction has some passion, and the chemistry shared by the main acting due formed of Elliot Cowan and Ana Ularu works fine.
Muse is the kind of movie lovers of the supernatural, occult and dark mystery can easily get entertained by. I bet it won’t be in the polls of the best movie of the season but is still a fun watch.
RATE: 5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5041296
