Review of The Limits of Control (2009) by Ana B — 02 Jul 2013

Bizarre thriller set in Spain, a special agent is sent there with an unknown mission. We follow his steps from Madrid to Sevilla and then to the countryside of Almeria exchanging information in match boxes with other spies along the way. He practices taichi, drinks paired expressos and starts all his conversations in the same way, his clothes are always the same shape though they change colour in different locations. He is a weird mix of James Bond and professor Charles Xavier, a zen character with a streak of violence but very focused and controlled in the extreme.

Despite being a thriller it doesn't feel like one, everything is quiet and relaxed, nothing is rushing us, pace is really slow. Some information is withheld and that makes the action seem a little weird or surprising. Characters don't have a name, they are described as "Lone man", "Guitar" or "Molecules" At the end of the film we do really understand what is the loner's objective, but there are so many lose strings... the end of the blonde, the end of the nude woman, the engineer of all those meetings... It all adds up to the mystery of the story.

This is anything but a Hollywood thriller, very little violence, no car chases, no explosions, no life or death situations, just a man with a mission in mind and the certainty that he must not fail nor take any risks. You might be confused by the plot that promises a thriller but it is a sort of minimalist thriller; don't go looking for the twist neither. This is not entertainment, this is art, if you are looking for the thrills you might get quite bored here.