When one comes across a film like Mirror, mirror, made by the Spaniard Marc Crehuet (2022), one comes to think of the few media that make true lack for the worthy elaboration of a similar audiovisual history; and that, if it were something from the monstrous industry of Hollywood, it would multiply its budget a good many times. No need, of course. Just sit down to see it in a movie theater these days to find out.
Like the amazing The Man from Earth, an unexpected triumph of Richard Schenkman (2007), the genre to which we discover that it belongs, in addition to comedy, very often tends to lend itself to directors compose great shows up to the top of fireworks for the eyes of the spectator who, for whatever reason, looks for them and is entertained. An aspect that is not unfavorable if they provide a respectful efficiency, but that supposes more of the same.
What is different is found, for example, in those small works that express a more or less curious idea, belonging to a genre that is not strictly realistic, in a way that appeals to the understanding of our gray matter , just like a proposal as enormous as Francis Veber's Supper for Idiots (1998) —and let Jay Roach's horrendous remake (2010) burn in hell of the abominable—, and Mirror, mirror does not limit itself to betting on it all cumbersome and visceral.
The ups and downs of humor in 'Mirror, mirror'
Roll and RollMarc Crehuet, whose feature debut was The One-eyed King (2016) and who, among other things, has signed the scripts for several episodes of The Neighbor (2019-2021), presents us with a strange dynamic with something that resembles the interior monologue of the characters in literature, from those of English modernism to the ones you fancy, or the thought in the typical voice-over of the seventh art… but externalized with a doppelgänger who responds through the reflection of the protagonists.
He seasons it, on the other hand, with a labor satire, about certain types of people and interpersonal relationships, and a humor that doesn't go away at all with squeamishness but with varied aim, because sometimes he manages to press the button for sincere laughter in the respectable one and other times, he wants to press it and only reaches the one for smiles or even misses either one of them because it's in the dark. However, her script does not skimp on certain touches of fantastic surrealism either.
What we must leave clear is that, if it were the work of the cast, Marc Crehuet would never miss the shot. In such an eccentric situation, we can ask little more of the visible humanity of Malena Alterio in Cristina's skin, of Santi Millán in Álvaro's, of Carlos Areces in Alberto's, for whom the best shots are reserved, Natalia de Molina in the recognizable Paula or Betsy Túrnez in Antonia's. With the company of impeccable secondary, eye.
A good idea that gave for more
Roll and Roll There are turns of Mirror, mirror that remind us of the nightmare of the chapter “Bart Sells His Soul” (7×04) of the veteran animated series The Simpsons (since 1989). However, at a certain moment, the hilarity freezes us and the intimate dramas that had appeared from the beginning between the sarcasm escape from it, and one discovers one is worried about these characters. Even with respect to the mother played by the late Verónica Forqué for sadly obvious reasons.
Likewise, Marc Crehuet plays it quite a lot on occasions with the limits of plausibility and even ridicule; but he ends up coming out graceful of his juggling on the tightrope. Without showing off, of course, that the visual planning remains in an acceptable performance, with some striking parallel assembly. And one cannot regret having eaten Mirror, mirror, whose plot does not express what it could if it delved deeper into the bad blood of a black comedy.
