The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

London Film Festival 2020

A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común)

London Film Festival 2020: A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común) | Review
13 October 2020
Emily Harrison
Avatar
Emily Harrison
13 October 2020
Public screenings
13th October 2020 8.30pm at BFI Player

Movie and show review

Emily Harrison

A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común)

★★★★★

Links

Facebook

Special event

From the outset, A Common Crime puts the viewer in a place of discomfort. During the opening, set in a fairground surrounded by masks, there is a distinct feeling that something untoward is just waiting around the corner. The unsettling score by Orlando Scarpa Neto imbues the narrative with an eerie sense of foreboding as the audience waits patiently to see what this event might be.

The intentionally slow pace feels a little frustrating at first, as Cecilia (played with understated brilliance by Elisa Carricajo) seems to be moving with relative ease through her middle-class existence. Intimate cinematography makes it feel as though we are entering into her happy domesticity, giving us an immediate connection to her mind; it is through her that we experience the story. As an audience you could be forgiven for a lack of patience with the initial considered pace of the film, but just when you think nothing could break the domestic bubble, things change in an instant. Effective sound design by Abel Tortorelli shatters the calm, and Cecilia’s world is turned upside down.

Just like its title, the film is a slightly unsubtle dig at Argentina’s class system. Cecilia is a middle-class sociology teacher teaching Marxism to her students when her life is interrupted by the troubles of a working-class family living in the slums of Buenos Aires. The realism of the script and the naturalistic performances show us that this is very much the reality in Argentina today. Cecilia’s comfortable world is interrupted by a revelation that ultimately leads to her unravelling. However, the focus on the personal rather than wider ramifications means the film slightly misses its mark. It morphs almost into a horror film in the vein of The Babadook, with Cecilia seeing things that may or may not be really there.

However, Cecilia’s descent into guilt-ridden madness is played with frightening accuracy by Carricajo, who more or less carries the entire film herself. The subtle changes in her face and the fear in her eyes are captivating, along with the haunting soundscape that builds to an uncomfortable crescendo.

Perhaps not as effective as intended, A Common Crime is nonetheless an interesting exploration of the expanding distance between the classes in modern-day Argentina and the injustices suffered as a result of it.

★★★★★

Emily Harrison

A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común) does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews and interviews from our London Film Festival 2020 coverage here.

For further information about the festival visit the official BFI website here.

Watch the trailer for A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común) here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Film festivals

November (Novembre)

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

Forever Young (Les Amandiers)

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

“Ruben is wonderful at picking holes in our behaviour and our egos”: Woody Harrelson, Ruben Östlundand and cast at the Triangle of Sadness press conference

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Summer Scars (Nos Cérémonies)

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Holy Spider (Les Nuits de Mashad)

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Men

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Diary of a Fleeting Affair (Chronique d’une Liaison Passagère)

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Don Juan

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Triangle of Sadness

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Emily Harrison

A Common Crime (Un Crimen Común)

★★★★★

Links

Facebook

Special event

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • The Father and the Assassin at the National Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • November (Novembre)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Forever Young (Les Amandiers)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • “Ruben is wonderful at picking holes in our behaviour and our egos”: Woody Harrelson, Ruben Östlundand and cast at the Triangle of Sadness press conference
    Cannes Film Festival 2022
  • Summer Scars (Nos Cérémonies)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Holy Spider (Les Nuits de Mashad)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Emergency
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Men
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Triangle of Sadness
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Aftersun
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Paris Memories (Revoir Paris)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

London Film Festival 2020: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets | Review
London Film Festival 2020: Sound for the Future | Review