The Beasts is a rural psychological thriller from Spain that has won many awards across Europe and even though we don’t set any store by awards – the multi-Oscar winning Everything Everywhere All At Once is known as Extremely Baffling As Well As Dull in this house – it is a riveting, merciless study of human nature, so cleverly tense throughout that even a game of dominoes becomes menacing. You didn’t know a game of dominoes could be menacing? Trust me, it can. You might never be able to look at a pack of dominoes again without feeling menaced.
Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and co-written with Isabel Pena, the film is loosely based on a true story from 2014 involving a Dutch couple who moved to a small Spanish village in Galicia. But here the protagonists are reworked as French. They are Antoine (Denis Ménochet), who has the bulk of a Tony Soprano but with mournful eyes, and his wife Olga (Marina Foïs).
This is so cleverly tense throughout that even a game of dominoes becomes menacing
They settled here a few years back to enjoy a slower pace of life and grow organic vegetables to sell at market in the local town.
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