The Red Squirrel (1993)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Powerful

Don't Believe the Hype

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

'The Red Squirrel' starts off like a Hitchcockian thriller, but soon becomes more complex and difficult to categorize. By the end of this utterly fascinating movie I would be hard pressed to label it. "A mystery" and "a love story" don't give you the whole picture. Just see it for yourself if you want something challenging and original. I know nothing about writer/director Julio Medem, but after watching this film I will rectify that as soon as possible! The basic plot is fairly simple - a washed up pop star contemplates suicide. Before he can do so he witnesses a road accident, a motorbike crash. A young girl is injured slightly but appears to be amnesiac. On the spur of the moment he tells her that he is her boyfriend and invents a name for her (Lisa, his ex-girlfriend, who he still loves). He visits her as she recuperates in hospital, and as it looks more and more likely that he will be found out, he smuggles her out and takes her on a camping holiday. Then things get a bit strange... The plot as I said is fairly simple, but the movie is not. I was hooked from the opening scenes and was fascinated until the very end. I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.

Lisa (Emma Suarez) is in a motorcycle accident and loses her memory. Jay (Nancho Nova) finds her and calls the ambulance. He then pretends to be her boyfriend, convincing her and the doctors of this. They disappear on holiday together to the Red Squirrel camp site where memories steadily flow out and all is not what it seems.This starts innocently - you're pretty sure that you understand what's going on (Jay is trying to replace his lost girlfriend by naming this lose woman that she is his Lisa and giving her all the memories he wants). However as the film goes on it becomes less clear. The director fills the film with flashbacks of Jay's memories of his girlfriend and his music video, and flashbacks of Lisa's memories combined with a squirrel eyes view of the forest.As the film continues these flashbacks etc are continually intercut with the main film and separate elements (the hit and run driver, the night time radio slots, the doctor) all get tied into the main story. During the film it's all very exhilarating because you don't fully understand what's going on but you know that all the elements are coming together towards an amazing conclusion. Unfortunately it doesn't deliver at the end - as the strands start to come together the film does start to link up - but it links up with unbelievable, coincidental connections. Rather than having a thrilling tidy conclusion in collapses into symbolism and abstract images and actions.Emma Suarez steals the show as the complex Lisa, she manages to be believable even when the other actors and surrounding situations seem ridiculous. The director does an excellent job injecting a sense of urgency and confusion into a seemingly straight forward story. Although it does being meaningless arty rubbish in the last 20 minutes, everything that goes before is a consistently visually amazing story.This is definitely worth watching once - but the final 20 minutes will either frustrate you (if you like logical meaningful endings) or amaze you (if you're into abstract arty stuff!).

Magnificent! Exceptionally written, best shooted. This second film of Julio Medem is pure gold. Everything is perfect in it: Emma Suárez as an unbelieving blonde, casting full of excellent spanish actors (Karra Elejalde, Carmelo Gómez, Maria Barranco, etc.). In your first view, it makes you think every second and it's deceiving you all the time with fake plot lines and intentions and meanings. In the second view, you can appreciate so much profundity in everything that involve all characters. You can enjoy this pictures a lot of times and always find new surprises! Brilliant shooting of dreams and a very effective use of the music. A rare piece of pure cinema. You have to see it!

If you are one of those movielovers who hates all those slimy romantic pics like sleepless in Seatle, city of angels ... but has a wife, girlfriend who wants to see them over and over again, here' s the medicine: rent or buy this movie and enjoy it with your partner on a quiet evening. The story is great, the acting superb, the main actress, actor a treat for your eyes and the directing astonishing!! You won' t find anything better than this and hopefully your partner will agree on this so you don't have to see those awful Romantic films anymore