JesUs
DISC D: Fernando Guzzoni. France/Chile/ Germany/Greece/Colombia. 86 min. Sep 9, 9:30 pm, Scotiabank 14 Sep 11, 9:45 pm, Scotiabank 11 Sep 16, 12:30 pm, Scotiabank 4. Rating: NNN
Like a Chilean Larry Clark, Guzzoni shows a talent for raw, unsettling storytelling.
Jesus (Nicolás Durán) is a wayward teen who tests his father’s limits, slacking off, getting high and then turning doe-eyed when he needs money. But then, after a night of partying, he joins his friends in a brutal and horrifying attack on another drunk teen – a scene Guzzoni builds up to and crafts so meticulously that it feels very real.
The film then turns into a morality tale, with Jesus asking Dad (Alejandro Goic) to protect him from a murder charge. This should have been the film’s crux but it’s a brief, shortchanged reckoning.
