Rosario review
A strong lead performance keeps Rosario interesting.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Rosario
Directed by Felipe Vargas
Written by Alan Trezza
Starring Emeraude Toubia and David Dastmalchian
Rosario Review
Sometimes a simple title is the right one. Although Rosario contains plenty of black magic and demons…has no shortage of horror imagery and jump scares…its success as a film comes, largely, from its titular character. More specifically, from the performance of the actress portraying her…but, admittedly, Emeraude Toubia would be an awfully strange title for a horror movie. Rosario tasks the more than capable Toubia to carry a story almost completely told with no one to interact with. At least, no one still alive. A mostly one location horror film with…mostly…one character on screen is a tough act to pull off. Thanks to Toubia…Rosario does.
Rosario, the character…not the movie, is highly successful on Wall Street. When she gets a call that her grandmother has passed away…she braves a blizzard to see the body gets properly taken care of. Strange things begin to happen…leading Rosario to believe her grandmother has put a curse on her as revenge for turning her back on that side of the family. She must break the curse before dawn or risk being haunted for the rest of her life.
Rosario, the movie, has a well-structured story. The only issue with the way it unfolds is how quickly Rosario jumps to the conclusion that her grandmother has cursed her. That feels like an extreme leap…but it works well enough for a couple of reasons. First…there is some spooky stuff happening. She’s definitely being targeted by something. Second…Rosario’s own guilt is driving this belief. If she didn’t spend so much time in the film regretting her role in the fractured relationship between herself and her mother (and grandmother) following her parent’s divorce…it would feel like it came out of nowhere. It’s still the one part of Rosario’s story that takes a bit of a leap of faith. It works out either way. There’s obviously more to the story than first appears.
Which, when you consider how many crazy things Rosario discovers while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, is an incredible thing. Rosario makes its magic spells and demons feel as real as can be. It’s so effective at revealing its hidden passages, deeper familial connections and delivering a steady stream of scares…you almost don’t notice that it’s a trauma movie at heart. The third act turns towards the trauma aspect hard enough to make it unmistakable. While it’s a fine way to wrap up its own story…it does end up feeling less fresh and original than the film had been to that point.
The star of the show, both literally and figuratively, is the aforementioned Emeraude Toubia. She gives a tremendous performance as Rosario. No matter how weird the events around her become…no matter how emotional the family drama becomes…Toubia sells everything perfectly. No small feat…given she is on screen alone for most of the story. Brief interactions with her grandmother’s landlord or nosy neighbor (David Dastmalchian) aside…Toubia is on a solo mission. Phone calls from her father and a momentary attempt to flee the apartment break up the one character, one location aesthetic…but, for the most part, it’s the Rosario show from start to finish. Toubia makes that work much better than it reads on paper.
It helps that Rosario has enough ideas to fill its one woman show. Rosario discovers a lot in her visit to grandma’s house. From the dark magic her grandmother believed in (and practiced) to family history she never knew about. Her initial belief that a curse had been placed upon her isn’t wrong…but it also isn’t the whole story. Unraveling that story makes Rosario a fun watch despite its limited apparent scale. This is a personal story about a supernatural force that has come to collect on a debt that Rosario didn’t know she had inherited…and didn’t sign up for. Effective horror imagery and a deep commitment to its world of magic keeps things moving. Emeraude Toubia’s performance keeps it engaging.
Scare Value
Rosario is a ground level story about something supernatural. It’s as much about familial trauma and regret as it is about the demonic force focused on its lead character. Secrets are revealed at a fine pace. The story is interesting. The horror imagery works more often than not. What pulls everything together, however, is the impeccable lead performance at the center of it all.
3/5
Rosario Link
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