Museo, 2018.
Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios.
Starring Gael García Bernal and Leonardo Ortizgris.
SYNOPSIS:
In 1985 veterinary students Juan and his best friend Benjamin set out to steal a number of priceless artefacts from the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. This incredible film is actually based on a true story.
Over the years, Hollywood has conditioned audiences into accepting a very specific type of heist movie. In recent memory, Steven Soderbergh and his crews of slick, charismatic and omniscient criminals, have been perhaps the most popular. Every similar film now appears to follow the same tracks laid down by Soderbergh before them.
Museo then is a very different type of crime film, and is all the better for it. Sure it revolves around the execution of a heist involving priceless artefacts, but there are no insanely handsome and charming career criminals here. Instead our protagonists are just two slacker students. There is no Hollywood formula at all in fact, as Museo blazes its own path, becoming a character study more than anything else, and a damn good one at that.
Gael Garcia Bernal is Juan. He’s still yet to finish his thesis, in fact he hasn’t even written a question for it, despite having been studying for almost a decade. He lives at home with his parents, for which he is constantly ridiculed by his siblings. His family is constantly a sly insult away from a full blown argument, with Juan seemingly insistent on igniting as many as possible. His friend Benjamin, another veterinary student, spends the majority of his time caring for his dying father. They are certainly not your usual criminals. And yet they decide to steal some of the most expensive artefacts on show at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.
Garcia Bernal (perhaps most famous to American audiences for his excellent performance as Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries) shines as the blunt, witty, consistently conflicted Juan. Our protagonist is certainly no hero, and he’s just as confused by his decisions as we are. Other actors may have made Juan a much more unlikable character, but Garcia Bernal instils enough warmth and innocence to the role that we see beneath the outer shell.
The film makes great use of its two hour plus runtime, weaving together a truly unexpected and intriguing narrative. There is no great build-up to the crime and none of the usual gathering together of the uniquely skilled crew. Instead, Juan and Benjamin have already decided to perform the heist before the film’s opening, and set out to do it almost immediately. Without revealing too much, the film answers many questions one normally has about the fate of the stereotypical heist team after the credits rolled.
Museo also throws up a host of questions of its own, delving much deeper than one would expect from a heist movie. It is less concerned with the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood model, and more concerned with what actually prompted these two intelligent students to attempt such an act. It is a deep study of motivations, and of ownership, and also of how history can be pliable to the point that it become fictitious. What’s so brilliant about it is that after tackling so much, Museo is so satisfying in the execution of its conclusion.
Museo is a massive success, proving to be both thrilling and thought-provoking in equal measure. As engaging and as effecting as any heist movie is capable of being, with a suitably superior central performance by Garcia Bernal. A completely original treat.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★/ Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Matthew Singleton
