I usually start my reviews with some allegory related to the film’s plot, but this time I’ll get straight to the point because Los Conductos is not a movie to enjoy on a Sunday night or to distract yourself for a while— it’s a provocative and depressing account of life after chaos. It’s a bitter pill to swallow without hope for a better future as a survivor of a severe traumatic event.

Set in Colombia, a man who calls himself Pinky (Luis Felipe Lozano) escapes from a cult that made him feel welcome for a period of time due to its likeminded members. Once he witnesses an usual act from the leader, he questions his beliefs and decides to relieve himself from his pain by plotting his murder.

Los Conductos is the first feature film by Colombian director Camilo Restrepo. Prior to this, his curricular work consists of three short films of great weight for his portrayal of stories based on real events and his creatively penetrating visual art under his command as cinematographer. What makes those short films incredible are the similar plots in which he fuses vengeance with resilience. But in the case of Los Conductos, despite having a plot in which settling scores is the main motive for the character of Pinky, there is a void that leaves the presentation of the facts ambiguous— even when the outcome of the story is revealed from the beginning.

Its purpose is clear as an audiovisual project that wants to convey its message through a set of metaphors translated into pictures, some seeming meaningless while others are representative, to give greater weight to the plot. It’s even beautiful when the camera movements are static in a single-action frame, which could serve as a screensaver, so that the actors can narrate the story in a poetic way— it even becomes mesmerizing to be listening to the voices while seeing a single image to tilt your concentration towards the depth each script line has. It could be categorized as experimental cinema since it takes theater techniques commonly used to tell a tragedy.

I can’t deny it is a masterpiece due to the great work and detail it conveys into forcing the audience to analyze the facts through its photography and confusing style of editing. However, I dare to question why this story doesn’t have the same impact as those previously told through short films— it doesn’t leave the same impression to later think about the possible fate of the main character.

Los Conductos leaves a gap to think whether there is life after rebirth or a better way to go after taking the bumpiest road. Perhaps it could be a parable to how difficult it is to find happiness unless one understands its concept and accepts one’s condition in life— or perhaps we are just fooling ourselves until we find something or someone that makes us repetitively feel what we have falsely known as comforting moments.

8 OUT OF 10 CIGARETTES