Pescador review
Life, death and magical lobsters.
Festival movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Pescador
Directed by Harry Domenico Rossi
Written by Harry Domenico Rossi
Starring Alex Wanebo, Spencer Bang and Marico Chacón
Pescador Review
We generally stick to covering horror movies on this site…but jump into other genres when there’s something interesting about them. The gore effects in Sisu, for example. Though I suppose that was a horror movie from the perspective of the Nazis. I struggle to even identify what genre I would categorize Pescador as. Drama would be the easiest catch all…but using that would be as dismissive as labeling everything from Friday the 13th Part VI to Hereditary as “horror”. Technically accurate but not very descriptive. It feels more like a dark fantasy…only that those fantasy elements are more of a garnish to the drama than the full meal itself. Pescador takes place in a hard reality…but there is a bit of magic in that world.
The pacing and style of Pescador plays into that notion. Maybe “dark whimsy” is a better way to try and describe it. At the very least there are some mystical if not mythical sea creatures at the center of Pescador’s dual stories. But when I tell you there’s a mythical fish and a magic lobster…it sounds a lot more over-the-top than Pescador is. It’s a meditative story about a brother and sister who haven’t seen each other in a long time. It just so happens that mystical/mythical sea creatures may be driving their individual plots.
A young woman (Alex Wanebo) travels to Costa Rica in search of a legend. She believes there is an undocumented fish out there somewhere. This plot makes up the first story in Pescador. Her brother Trent (Spencer Bang) pops up in his own story in Pescador’s second part. A fisherman (Mario Chacon) makes a wish that he could have a son to teach his methods to and share his life with. Then he happens upon Trent adrift at sea. A third part brings both stories to a close…though not with the overlap that you might expect.
The young woman’s story explores what it’s like to be a stranger in a strange land. She barely speaks the language and has to rely on the kindness of strangers. The implied risk is everywhere as she makes her way around in search of this legend. A ride from a stranger can be a terrifying experience for anyone. Pescador puts you in the woman’s shoes during that kind of situation. This part of the story isn’t in a hurry to get anywhere because it’s about the exploration not necessarily the destination. We don’t even know if there’s a destination to get to.
The next part of the story changes things up considerably. We leave the young woman’s quest behind completely and focus on the relationship between the fisherman and the young woman’s brother. Pescador makes a fascinating choice to limit the dialog throughout this entire part of the story. We watch their bond grow through actions and reactions…and it works remarkable well. You connect to it much more than you normally would. The pace picks up…and everything seems to be going well. Until it isn’t.
The third part of Pescador is titled “death” so you can probably assume it will have some heavy and dark moments to bring you. We see the resolution of both the young woman’s search and her estranged brother’s connection to the fisherman. They’re like two very grounded fables reaching dramatically different conclusions. Two beautifully shot and slightly magical fables.
Scare Value
Pescador is an interesting movie that defies easy categorization. There’s a bit of magic in this world…but it doesn’t always work out the way you expect. A fisherman wishes for a son. A young woman is searching for a fish. They sound like modern fairy tales on paper…and they bring the harshness of the real world to life with them in Pescador.
