‘Robe of Gems’ Review: The Banality of Evil Is a Little Too Banal in Elliptical Anti-Thriller
variety.comMichael Nordine authorHow you respond to the news that “Robe of Gems” director Natalia López Gallardo is making her feature debut after editing work by the likes of Amat Escalante and Carlos Reygadas may ultimately guide your response to the film as a whole.
Though the first-time writer-director forges her own cinematic path here and is very much an artist unto herself, the influence of her collaborators is evident in this elliptical exploration of a criminal underbelly that’s spent so much time in the light it’s hardly even dark anymore.Nailea Norvind stars as Isabel, who moves into her mother’s villa in rural Mexico along with her husband and children following the matriarch’s departure.
There they learn that the sister of Mari, who’s taken care of the family home since time immemorial, has gone missing — a development that so upets Isabel it spurs her into ill-advised action.
The plot becomes increasingly free-floating from there, with Gallardo privileging mood over narrative coherence in a way that may leave you scratching your head when you aren’t taking in the ruggedly beautiful landscapes. “Robe of Gems” gradually announces itself as a kind of banality-of-evil story, one that depicts kidnapping as the cottage industry it’s become — and one that, for how obviously horrific it is, is also quite boring much of the time.
Read more on variety.com