The dark, shocking and somewhat morbid thriller-drama was shot by the distinguished Spanish filmmaker Manuel Martin Cuenca (El autor, La hija), which is performed brilliantly by one of the best Spanish actors, Antonio de la Torre. This great actor excelled in films such as “El reino”, “Tarde para la ira”; “Que dios nos perdone”, “La noche des 12 anos” or “Endless Trench”, and here he is a silent, aloof, discreet tailor from a small town in Andalusia, whom we already learn in the opening scene that he is a complete psychopath. Carlos leads a double life because he is a serial killer, a complete maniac who kills women and then eats their flesh.
He has a cottage in the mountains where he deals with these abominations, and otherwise he lives a quiet life and no one would suspect that he is a complete sick person. He is the owner of a tailor’s shop located in the house across from the building where he lives, and his routine will be completely disrupted when a young and attractive Romanian Alexandra (Olimpia Melinte) moves into the same building. It’s obvious that Alexandra is attracted to Carlos, but he seems to be fighting his urges and is cold, even though it’s obvious that she wants a relationship with him and is clearly hitting on him. But Carlos is one of those guys who clearly doesn’t know how to communicate with women, and by the end we’ll understand where those sick, morbid murderous urges come from.
When one day Alexandra disappears, her twin sister Nina will appear there and she will also ask Carlos for help and he will offer her help in searching for her sister, regardless of what the viewer can guess what happened to the unfortunate girl. He will try to resist his urges again because it is clear that Nina will attract him as much as her sister, and although it is clear to us from the very beginning of the film that we are dealing with a complete patient, Cuenca has made an exceptional film, an equally shocking thriller about a psychopath who cannot control his urges even though it is clear that he would like to.
He would like Carlos to have a normal life like everyone else, but we will understand that this is practically impossible for him. Or not, because he will start to open up when he allows Nina to get close to him, but it’s clearly not one of those stories that can end well. Although the subject probably sounds repulsive at first, De la Torre’s great performance, and Cuenca’s masterful direction, slow pace and long, carefully composed shots, tonally and stylistically set an aesthetic completely different from the subject itself. Regardless of the fact that it is clear to us from the start that Carlos is a sick guy, a maniacal killer, Cuenca draws us into the story and the viewer tries to understand why he is like that?
Who is this mysterious guy that the viewer knows to stay away from, but the rest of the characters in the film are unaware of. To them he may be a weirdo, an eccentric loner, but certainly not the type to hide such a sick secret and the type to lead a double life. Is it even possible to recognize such a person among people and who could even think that someone would be capable of such abominations? In the end, “Cannibal” had a dozen nominations in the selection for the Spanish film of the year, and it was won only by Pau Esteve Birba for the excellent camera that reveals enough to understand who Carlos is, but does not go into unnecessarily exploitative waters and does not terrify the viewer with explicit nastiness. it already wants to have a psychological effect.