Cannibal (2013) User Reviews (15)

Drama, romance and killings including a magnificent acting by Antonio De La Torre

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 20 July 2014]

A sumptuous love story starred by a loner called Carlos (Antonio De La Torre) , he is the most prestigious tailor in Granada, but he's also a series killer in the shadows . He feels no remorse, no guilt, until Nina (Olimpia Melinte in double role as Alexandra / Nina) appears in his life and love awakens . Carlos unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with his latest prospective victim . As their love is insatiable .

Thrilling story about a strange tailor and his relationship with a Romanian girl , filled with lasting images , style and slow moving . It is an exciting film displaying suspense , intrigue , tension , a touching love story , nudism and interesting drama well written by Humberto Arenal and the same filmmaker and based on the novel by Alejandro Hernández . Manuel Martin Cuenca's dark romance centres on a tailor and secret cannibal played masterfully by Antonio de la Torre who gives an awesome portrait of a weird man , being set in Granada Holy Week . In Cannibal, we see a surprisingly thoughtful approach to an otherwise gruesome premise, one we're confident audiences will be well gripped into a peculiar romance and a twisted intrigue . This low budget film received a positive reception from its first screening at various festivals and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival . Furthermore , Cannibal won numerous prizes , being premiered at Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain , Feroz Awards , San Sebastián International Film Festival ,Santa Barbara International Film Festival , Spanish Actors Unión and especially various Goya Awards (Spanish Oscar) such as Best Cinematography : Pau Esteve Birba , Goya Best Actor : Antonio de la Torre , Best New Actress : Olimpia Melinte , Best Director : Manuel Martín Cuenca and Best Screenplay Adapted : Manuel Martín Cuenca and Alejandro Hernández .

Colorful and evocative cinematography by Pau Esteve Birba filmed on location in Granada ,Güejar Sierra, Motril and Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucía, Spain . The film was well produced by Fernando Bovaira , one of the best Spanish producers , financing a lot of films in lavish budgets such as ¨The others¨ , ¨The sea inside¨ , ¨Agora¨ , ¨Mortadelo and Filemon¨, ¨Butterfly tongue¨ , among others . Manuel Martin Cuenca has established himself as one of Spain's most artistically astute directors , his works consistently evolving in skill and style . Manuel Martín Cuenca was born on November 30, 1964 in Almería , Almería, Andalucía , location where he usually shoots his pictures . He is a good director and writer, known for La Flaqueza Del Bolchevique (2003) , Malas Temporadas (2005) , 4 Puntos Cardinales (2002) , being his best movie this Caníbal or Cannibal (2013) . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .

A good idea executed in an uninteresting fashion

[rdoyle29 · 6/10 · 2 November 2017]

Carlos is a successful tailor and also a serial killer who eats his victims. He leads a meticulously ordered and sheltered life until he gets involved with and falls for a woman who moves into his apartment building. An interesting premise and a beautifully shot film, but ultimately this is an extremely slow and uninvolving film. The main character starts and ends the film as a complete cipher.

Good effort, but predictable and complacent ending

[jinmo2010 · 5/10 · 24 November 2014]

From the beginning I could see where the movie was headed to: The closet cannibal has taste (in this case literally) for young women's flesh. Then, he meets a woman who places so much trust in him he is unable to kill, process and put in the freezer. Well, I tell you there are already hundreds of horror movies with storyline like this. It was too obvious from the beginning that Carlos had killed (and ate) Nina's sister Alexandra and that was why he was so unresponsive to Nina's romantic propositions. In the end he confesses to Nina and by doing so gave her an opportunity to turn him in to the police and clear the suspicion on herself. However Nina then attempts a murder-suicide on Carlos, which only ends up killing herself only. 9Was it an act of revenge for her sister Alexandra, or jealousy towards her that Carlos desired her so much to eat her but he did not desire her enough to want to eat herself?) The most glaring flaw in the plot is that the character's cannibalism does not relate to how the movie ends. Does cannibalism figure in how the movie ends? Not at all. As far as the plot line is concerned, the character of 'Carlos' did not need to be a cannibal at all. He could have been portrayed as just one of those simple, ordinary serial killers who targets young attractive women. I mean, cannibalism in this movie may be a sufficient condition but not a necessary condition. Almodova would have done it differently--What a pity. Also as a postscript the nude body of Alexandra/Nina is not well shaped enough to be the main piece of the final scenes--her waist is rather thick and her lower abdomen bulges---possible casting error.

Art is subjective, not liking something doesn't make you a bad person, get over yourselves

[vojahojaphil · 3/10 · 12 April 2016]

No, seriously, it was a movie. In my opinion, it was a terrible, pretentious, dull, underachieving movie that accomplished nothing. This is from a person who loves movies (movies, moving pictures, which is all these are) and appreciates the feelings they can create and the ideas they can inspire. That being said, this movie inspired feelings of laughter and the idea that the filmmakers have their heads so far up their bums they can see out their mouths.

Specifically, the plot of the movie is minuscule and stretched so thin I spent two hours looking at the wall behind the TV. The cannibalism of the main character, Carlos, is almost completely useless to the actual events of the movie, which center around fixing up a rug for a church parade and buying somebody's parents an apartment. I could not begin to sympathize with Carlos since we had no emotional connection to him, mostly because he had no emotions to connect with. His "acting" consisted of keeping a straight face no matter what he was doing. He was bored at his job, bored in the sauna, bored talking to his love interest, bored murdering people, and it got to the point where I actually did began to sympathize with Carlos, because I too was incredibly bored. Such a brilliant use of irony.

There was no explanation of his cannibalism, which took up about 5% of the movie, and the scenes of him being a cannibal were so awkwardly shot that we didn't even care. What was the point of watching two people wander around a gas station parking lot for 5 minutes? Why? They just stiffly paced back and forth until they drove away. Then Carlos runs them off the road and steals the dead woman's corpse from the wreckage.

The second murder we see him commit takes place on a beach, and his victims are a seemingly foreign couple skinny dipping. The girlfriend looks an awful lot like Carlos' love interest, Alexandra. Okay, quite a coincidence, but whatever. He hot-wires their car, and drives it over the naked boyfriend when he runs to investigate. The girlfriend, still in the water, just watches. We then spend 5 minutes watching him watch the woman watch him, asking him "what do you want?" over and over until she starts to swim out into the open waters... Just turns around and swims away... Sure, there wasn't really much she could have done, if this sort of thing happened in real life it would surely be kind of awkward for both parties involved, but the thing about making movies (in my amateur opinion) is that it's very important what you DON'T show. We didn't need to see the awkward mess of an attempted kidnapping because it ruins the tension brought on by a successful vehicular homicide. It went from thrilling to silly.

There are a few very long and focused scenes taking place in and around a church, including one long take of a statue of Jesus Christ being carried through the streets in a sort of parade... Don't ask me why, if blatant Jesus imagery is good enough for Zack Snyder, it's good enough for some Spanish cannibal movie. I theorized that it was supposed to allude to the whole "eat this bread, it is my flesh" thing which was not clever... Like, at all. I'm no theologian, but I'm sure it's impossible to compare a Spanish cannibal who never says more than two words at a time to Jesus "Everything I say is a quote" Christ. Because, as all hack filmmakers know, a great way to substitute personality is to make the audience think your protagonist is the Second Coming. GENIUS! SUCH ART! NOBODY'S EVER PUT RELIGION IN A FILM, I'M SO SMART!

Don't let the silliness mentioned here make you think this film is an unintentional comedy, it is DULL. Shot after shot of Carlos eating alone, sitting in a sauna, staring out his window, set to no score and with no clever use of Mise en Scene, the vast majority of this film is pointing a camera at nothing and forgetting to turn it off. Bland, uninspired cinematography with no acting or writing to back it up, the film just feels hollow. There were a few really good shots of the snowy mountains at the VERY END, but the filmmakers didn't make those mountains to they get no credit. Once again, just pointing a camera at something. Bland, lazy, nothing to take from this movie except the sores on your ass that you got from two hours of boredom.

But hey, if you liked it then wonderful. But your opinion of this "film" is your OPINION, which means that it is not objective fact. Really, the only reason I wrote this review was because of the overwhelming smugness I saw by this films proponents, how one person was just flat-out insulting somebody's intelligence, and insulting an entire country of people, just because they had different taste in moving pictures. It's like they thought they were better human beings for sitting still for 120 minutes and staring at a TV.

Psst, hey, film snobs, guess what? Your tastes in art are worthless. They're F***ING worthless, they mean nothing. When the universe eats itself into oblivion billions of years from now, your precious little "films" will already be long forgotten, and nobody's life will be any less fulfilled for having not watched it. You're not a better person for liking something, and talking down to others for not liking something makes you a worse person. We're all a**holes, especially you and especially me, let's try and change that.

But hey, at least we're not cannibals, right? There's a good start.

Stunningly dull

[TdSmth5 · 3/10 · 4 May 2014]

A couple in a car is intentionally forced off the road. The car flips over, presumably both die. The guy responsible in the other car grabs the female and drags her into his car. He drives to a cabin in the mountains where he butchers her and takes the neatly packed pieces of meat back home and in his fridge. The guy is a tailor living in an apartment.

He meets an attractive Romanian neighbor who is also attracted to him. She offers him her massage services if he lets her put some fliers in his shop. She tries to get closer to him but he recoils every time. She has a fight with relatives in her apartment and files a report with the police. One day she disappears.

Now her twin sister shows up at the guy's door asking if she's seen the missing sister. She too files a report with the police with the guy's help. She tells him that she suspects that the sister ran off with some money. She has parents elsewhere in Spain who bought an apartment and the sister probably stole their money. Now the guy offers to give her four thousand euro just like that. In exchange for nothing. She's suspicious. But as there's also a violent Romanian thug who was the sister's boyfriend and keeps causing her trouble, she seeks refuge with the tailor.

One day she gives him a massage but he quickly leaves, drives to a beach, watches a couple, when they go into the water, he runs over the guy and goes after the girl but she vanishes in the water.

Now the guy offers to take the girl to his cabin. She agrees. Part of his plan was to get her to leave with the money to see her parents. And at the cabin no one will suspect that she's there in particular the thug. He drugs her, tries to butcher her, but he can't. Next he confesses to her that he killed her sister and that he's killed 8 other woman and eaten them, and that he nearly killed her. She doesn't believe it. When they drive down the mountain, she grabs the wheel, the car loses control, flips over and she dies.

Cannibal is one long, slow, dull, boring movie. I guess the heading "A love story" should be a warning to audiences looking for some horror thriller. It's not much of a love story either. There's just nothing there. Every scene is excessively long. Starting from the intro credits which has the camera at a distance and watches for 5 minutes as the couple stops at a gas station. Plenty of scenes are completely pointless and add nothing to the story. Our unlikely cannibal is a radical cannibal on top of that. He won't eat anything beside human meat. No veggies, no occasional trips to the restaurant, no food cooked by the girl for him.

You would think that as a long European movie, they would fill the scenes with dialogue, screaming, drama. But not this one. The guy has little to nothing to say about anything. So most of the movie is just silent. For better or worse there's no musical score. It wouldn't be Spanish movie if there weren't some church business involved. And he's hired to copy a religious mantle of sorts. I guess it's supposed to be ironic. The movie ends with a religious procession.

Olimpia Melinte is adorable and attractive. But she can't save this movie all by herself. There is some beautiful outdoor scenery occasionally. Cannibal unfortunately has nothing to offer, not much of a story, no ideas, no insight, little titillation.

I agree with the reviewer above this movie isn't very watchable!

[wagnerfrederick · 2/10 · 3 December 2019]

I'm afraid it's true your taste for artsy fartsy cinema does not make you better than anyone else. People can so condescending this movie is an outright bore and these reviews are misleading it is not engaging in any way. This is by no means a bad movie per say the acting is pretty good the premise is a good one the ladies are beautiful but if you are looking to be entertained look not this way! The film cover is also pretty misleading... I gave it 2 stars because of the cinematography.

Disturbingly good

[capncubby · 8/10 · 8 September 2013]

The movie's title isn't ironic. It isn't a metaphor. Carlos really is a cannibal. If you can get past the (few) scenes you should expect as a result, this film will reward you with layers you didn't expect.

Antonio de la Torre plays an understated Carlos. No surprise he's rather obsessive compulsive - makes for one quirky cannibal. The fact that the film doesn't lead you to how exactly he became a cannibal is fine - leaves lots of room for the imagination to work, and there are enough clues to get you started. He also does the majority of his acting without speaking - something one doesn't see a ton of in North American films, and for this I am grateful to the director and writer.

Olimpia Melinte is also very good and understated in her performance, standing up just fine to Carlos as she turns his world upside down.

Kudos to Manuel Martín Cuenca for playing every note perfectly and brilliant casting. And kudos too to Cameron Bailey for putting this in his must see list for TIFF 2013.

MILES away from "The Silence of the Lambs" and other Hannibals

[paul-allaer · 9/10 · 22 June 2014]

"Cannibal" (2013 release from Spain; 117 min.) brings the story of Carlos, a well-respected tailor for the 1% in Grenada at day, but a cold-blooded murderer and cannibal at night. As the movie opens, we see a couple at a gas station and when they drive away, Carlos follows them, and causes their car to crash. He takes the woman with him, and does what he does. Carlos has a lovely new neighbor in his building, a Romanian girl named Alexandra who moved to Spain with her sister Nina to make money and support their parents financially back home. When Alexandra also "is disappeared" by Carlos, Nina comes looking for her sister. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first and foremost, don't be fooled by or intimidated by the movie's title. This is MILES away from "Silence of the Lambs" and its sequels, as this is NOT a horror movie or an action movie. Yes there are several harrowing scenes in it, but the focus of the movie is on a much deeper level, namely how one man can find himself in this position and just when you think you've figured him out, you are taken into a new direction. Second, kudos to director Manuel Martín Cuenca, whose previous movies (including "Malas temporadas" and "The Weakness of the Bolshevik" are now on my "want-to-see-badly" list. Third, the pacing of the moving is glacier-like, and I mean this as a complement. Check out the opening scene at the gas station, which takes several minutes and the camera doesn't change angles or zooms in, it simply lets you take it all in (this comes back a number of times in the movie). In keeping with the deliberate slow pace, there equally is no musical score for the movie (the only occasional music we hear is from the radio in Carlos' tailor shop). Last but certainly not least, the 2 main actors, Antonio de la Torre as Carlos and Olimpia Melinte in the dual role of Alexandra and Nina, give towering performances which will stay with you long after you've seen the movie.

"Cannibal" is the June, 2014 release in Film Movement's DVD-of-the-Month Club, and the DVD will become generally available to the public later this yea. As is usually the case, the DVD comes with a bonus shortie, and this month we get "Ogre" (18 min., from France), about a heavy-set man who encounters an all-too-kind young lady at the beach. Equally worth checking out! Meanwhile, "Cannibal" is a fantastic addition to Film Movement's ever-growing library of foreign and indie movies. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Stately, handsome, and probably not what one expects

[karmaswimswami · 8/10 · 3 December 2014]

"Cannibal" summons to mind vague storyline similarities with Patrice Leconte's moody 1990 film "Monsieur Hire" and James Hamilton- Paterson's roman a clef "Loving Monsters."

Protagonist Carlos is a revered tailor in Granada, Spain, who murders and cannibalizes beautiful young women, and ostensibly does so in a way unencumbered by sadism or sexuality. His monotonic cannibalism is never explained, and left as metaphorical vehicle. Horror is not on offer here, and viewers are left free to imbue Carlos's predilection with personal meaning: in other ways, Carlos is fair, just, and honorable. Do even the very best among us have equally abhorrent gaping erroneous zones?

Romanian actress Olimpia Melinte's fresh-faced, highly-abled and confident screen presence work well in two roles here. Mise en scene, vistas and pacing are lovely, and the languid takes, the confident exposition, the story's ability to achieve both enormity and enormousness with an economy of lines and set-ups, make "Cannibal" well worth immersing in.

Business as (un)usual

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 31 December 2014]

First off, I have to say I didn't like H6: Diary of Serial Killer. Actually that is kind of an understatement. But while I thought this movie would do the same to me and the beginning kind of did feed into that "fear" of mine, it did win me over in the end. Earlier than that to be precise, but I'm sure you got what I meant.

It's not a big spoiler to guess what our main actor is doing (besides being a tailor that is of course). Unless the title of the movie is way different in some countries. With a despicable main guy like that, how can you make a movie that is interesting and intriguing. And kind of win the crowd almost over to root for that guy? You need a good script, showing a boring life and painting him not as a villain. Despicable his actions are, but you still will be interested in the story. It's a movie after all and not a documentary, so it's make belief.

Good movie, but for the American audience looking for horror, action and sex look for something else

[bogdan-hlevca · 9/10 · 10 February 2015]

This is a good movie and it does not deserve the current low rating. I will not repeat what most before me have already said. However, I am adding my small comment just for some of the American audience who is used to the Hollywood clichés and can't comprehend that a film, yes a film not a movie, can actually venture in the realm of psychology. For those who are looking for horror, blood and cheap action thrillers look somewhere else.

This film is a deliberately slow and aesthetic act of seduction that introduces the audience into the transformation of the main character, Carlos. Cuenca carefully hides the monstrousness of his main character and carefully shapes an unexpected outcome.

When a sewing box goes out is for human meat. His love goes beyond dates and incipid romance.

[ivanamc4 · 9/10 · 11 June 2015]

This is an incredible story that you can't miss if you like movies with deep emotions that will make you tremble about the idea of love and death. The actors are mysterious and the story starts with very surprising images that will make you be prepare to close your eyes for anything that could lead you a possible trauma, but nothing happen but stunning takes and surprising twists. The photography is amazing and you can't take your eyes out of the screen enjoying the views. Initially, the main character is cold and it can feel quite intimidating. But while the story keeps running forwards, you can feel even like you where in their skins. The passion between the characters may not be seen at first, but it's obvious at the end, and it can make you even cry of despair. The loneliness in this movie is very important and without it the film would be meaningless. The emotions of the people involve are represented in beautiful takes. There's few sounds of music in the background but this makes the movie more dark and realistic. This movie explain despair and the possession of the body with the most original way that you can imagine.

Disturbingly aesthetic!

[kouanes · 9/10 · 6 September 2019]

Very good movie. Strong and deep acting of Antonio de la Torre. As usual. A very good script, very artistic and disturbingly aesthetic. Because there is not a lot of things going on story wise it seems like a psychological study of the character. You are almost wanting this monstrous man to get away with what he does and ultimately find happiness. You are going to be rooting for a sociopath.... For a psychopath. Very intriguing about the Human nature and behavior...

a tailor

[Kirpianuscus · 10 June 2021]

A simple story created by inspired storytelling, admirable performance, high minimalism and the gray atmosphere of a car accident and presumed first help, a fridge and the meat contained by it, a tailor shop and the day between good morning and good evening, a neighbor and the help for her and a silent dinner. The ordinary evil can be the first definition. But the film represents more and the seductive end is the basic proof about impeccable gem.

Triggered Often?

[rebulous-05376 · 3 February 2022]

I have to laugh at how overly sensitive and easily triggered people are any more. My word. If you don't (or can't) appreciate a specific style of film making, then why watch such a film? So you can be triggered by a film snob? I'm thinking someone needs a life.