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Surreal Spanish thriller exploring the idea that luck can be an exchangable commodity. When Tomas survives a plane crash he is introduced to an underground group that gamble with peoples' luck. In turn he faces Sam, a Jew who survived a Nazi concentration camp to become the God of Luck.
Intacto ('Intact', for the more pernickety English-speakers in the audience) has been described as one of the most 'Lynchian' films produced, not to have been directed by David Lynch himself. Though this comparison does not do justice to the up-and-coming talent of director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, it certainly does characterise the film's cool, if bizarre, feel. Mesmerically shot, well scored and finely acted, Fresnadillo's premise that luck, or the lack of it, can be gambled and even transferred by mere physicial contact, works well.
From the sand-coloured suits 'players' wear to the neon-lit casino in the remote hinterland of Tenerife, 'Intacto' is one of the most visually satisfying films I've ever seen. The action moves around between the desert-like environs of Tenerife, the dense forest through which 'players' run blindfolded and the subterreanean hallways and rooms under the Casino, eerily lit by a large pink neon bulb that spells out the words 'Good Luck'.
For those not used to foreign or arthouse cinema the strange interplay between English and Spanish may seem a bit odd, but to have it any other way would remove the mystique of a film about the near-incomprehensible. Suggestions of an American remake are, I feel, absurd. The likely outcome of such a venture would to be to explode the mystery of this strange, multi-lingual underground world.
Like many a film he has appeared in, though he is the anchor of the storyline, Max actually appears very little in 'Intacto'. As ever, though, each of his scenes is priceless.
As Sam, the Luckiest Man in the World, the stately septagenarian is perfectly cast. In many of the roles he has filled it is conceivable to imagine another actor, but every so often there is one where von Sydow absolutely fits. Ming the Merciless is one example, Nels Gudmudsson is another. Here, as in 'Snow Falling on Cedars', the director feels comfortable with really closing in on Max's face, with the effect that the audience is spellbound. It is apt for a film about a almost supernaturally lucky man that when the action shifts seven years, Samuel Berg looks not a day older. Far from being a mistake on the part of Continuity, this has the effect of making Sam seem strangely ageless. Berg's advisary even says him, "you won't die of old age."
As far as dialogue is concerned, von Sydow does speak a little Spanish, though I think the effect of his use of English is to convey to the widest possible audience Max's extraordinary voice in a language we can all understand. Whether Max can actually speak Spanish fluently is beside the point - to hear him un-dubbed is what is important, especially to his fans.
Berg's monolgue about his survival of the concentration camp is simply breathtaking. It is a tribute to Max von Sydow's versitility as an actor that his tone is so moving while being quite different to any other monolgue he has delivered, often required to pull of the same heart strings. And if yet another example of versitility were needed, observant film-goers will know that Max has essayed more than one Nazi in his time, and perhaps more amazingly a war criminal, i.e. Joe Mueller in 'Father'. It is almost as if the 'guard' Berg talks about is Franz Kesler (Mueller's earlier name), the Nazi executioner in 'Father'. The scene where Tomas points the gun at Berg is particularly remeniscent of that in 'Father' where Iya Zetnik holds a gun to Mueller's head.
It only remains to be said that I hope Max receives some kind of official recognition for his performance in 'Intacto'. Despite having only seen the film once at the time of writing (though another showing is pencilled in for later in the week!), I feel it is going to rank among my favourite Max roles.
"If you're ready, I think it's time to play"
"Your gift I discovered, and your gift I take away" (sounding scarily like Richard Harris!)
"I taught you how to use that luck and now you think you're luckier than me?"
"the God Of Good Luck, played by Max von Sydow, on wonderfully lugubrious form"
"Max von Sydow gives a brilliantly engaged performance as Sam,"
"Sam is, needless to say, a fearsome adversary, never defeated – and is played here by Max Von Sydow, who as ever looks (to borrow a line from The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane) like a Lutheran pastor who slipped sideways into drama. His flinty presence can be relied upon to lend even the most preposterous story a degree of gravitas, and here he is singularly well-used: more monolith than man, he communicates an imperturbable calm that anchors this film’s stylistic extravagances"
"a riveting turn by Max von Sydow"
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