‘Desmontando a Lucía’: an unusual Spanish ‘noir’ with a black comedy tone | Culture

Despite some pretentious rubbish, insignificant productions that contribute nothing either in the artistic aspect or in the social aspect, and the usual excessively thick and easy strokes of commercial comedy, nothing new or inevitable in the industry of any country, we are here almost every week singing the praises of a great year in which good films of all stripes accumulate, and suddenly a director unknown to the vast majority arrives and takes off in a tone of black comedy with touches of thriller. What we needed to see.

is called the director of Disassembling Lucía, which is not perfect nor does it have to be, but its cinephile grace, its commitment to the genre aspect and its unprejudiced and different tone (how important this last one) lead it to appear in the photo with the best of the year. Maybe in a corner, because there are between 15 and 20 even better films (and the number already gives an idea of ​​how positive the season has been for Spanish cinema), but surely making a joke in the form of photobomber which causes us to end up paying attention to it more to others.

The protagonist private detective is not wearing a suit or hat, but he imagines himself that way. He charges in black with cash envelopes because in the middle of 2024 in Spain he lives in a society as corrupt as that of o And of course, no one, not even himself, calls him a detective: he prefers to define himself with the euphemism of judicial expert. In front of him is an amnesiac femme fatale who could have killed her boyfriend and her best friend. And in the middle of both of them there is a smart and usual criminal lawyer. There are crimes, chiaroscuros of the soul, deceptions and a violent, cynical and corrupt society from top to bottom. Music jazz y swing. But also laughter in the form of black comedy and a touch of absurdity that is very much ours. Halfway between A long goodbye, Memento, Point-blank love y Robbery at three, although a few steps below, which should not be exaggerated.

Utrera, who debuted in 2017 with Smoking Club (129 normas), A modest genre film that almost no one saw (it wasn’t good either, to be honest), it has spent a decade between the documentary, the short film and second and third-rate television without raising its head too much. Two documentaries, one about the Roca brothers (Sowing the future), and another about the friendship between political antagonists Eduardo Madina and Borja Sémper around the terrorist threat (Impure), have been his most relevant credits. However, with Disassembling Lucía He appears in society with new weapons. Those of effervescence, entertainment, parody of classicism and hooliganism. All together.

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