According to the translation program I used, Punto Rojo means Red Point or Red Dot in English. Don’t confuse Punto with that word that horrified your Spanish 101 teacher when someone asked what it meant. Punto Rojo is a Spanish language movie although mostly the characters speak in fists and bullets. This is a high-octane bloody mystery movie from Argentina. Your timid Spanish 101 teacher will go silent in awe.
A car parks in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. While listening to the radio, the driver Diego (When Evil Lurks‘ Demián Salomón) calls up the show to take part in a massive quiz about his favorite soccer team. Seems like he’s in no rush as he waits for something. He’s doing great with the trivia contest when a body hits the hood of his car. Where did it come from? The sky is the answer. As he’s investigating, he sees a cargo plane crash nearby. Adding to the drama is armed agent (Dead Man Tells His Own Tale‘s Mariana Anghileri) arrives on the scene ready to take out Diego. Where did she come from? Why is all this happening in this remote area? Perhaps it has something to do with a person locked in the trunk of Diego’s car and a mysterious box. Will Diego be able to finish answering the trivia questions or will all this action cause him to miss his phone calls for the upcoming rounds of the game?
Punto Rojo is a fast movie so just strap in for the wild ride that take a little over an hour. This short running time is refreshing in an era where everybody wants to make their action film a 3-hour mega epic. There are only a few locations, so you won’t get confused as to what is happening when and where. The present time action takes place in the field around the car. The past mostly takes us to a garage and inside a cargo plane. Even with so few locations, there’s a lot of stuff happening between the characters. Nicanor Loreti wrote, directed and edited a film that doesn’t get dull. The mystery keeps evolving and time jumps backwards to give you a sense how Diego, the secret agent and the person in the car trunk ended up in this mess. Diego comes off as initially as a just a guy waiting and only wanting to win the radio contest. He seems like the unexpected character who has all this madness drop on top of him. But we learn he’s not an innocent bystander. Demián Salomón accelerates from kind of goofy guy on the phone to badass as trouble arrives. The same is true of Mariana Anghileri who has a major fight in the cargo plane before she hits the ground to tackle Demián. We also learn what’s in the box and why all of this combustible action is necessary. Punto Rojo is cinematic rush packed with fights and gunplay in a tight time and space.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The picture goes from color to black and white with tinted elements. Things look sharp in the remote location. The Audio is 5.1 DTS-HD MA. There’s also a LPCM 2.0 Stereo mix. The sound will let you hear everything from the fights to the radio DJs with their soccer trivia. The movie is subtitled in English.
Commentary Track has Nicanor Loreti with producer Lucas Accardo. They had been putting the film together starting in 2018. They shot it during the pandemic in 2021. He gets into the films that inspired him. They both speak English for the commentary.
Pinball (13:06) is the short film that eventually became Punto Rojo.
Trailer (1:34) sets us up for the guns, cars and intrigue.
Trailer Gallery for Cutting Class, Vampire’s Kiss, Swamp Thing and Vile.
MVDVisual presents Punto Rojo. Director Nicanor Loreti. Screenplay by Nicanor Loreti. Starring Mariana Anghileri, Constanza Cardillo, Edgardo Castro, Matías Lértora, Paula Manzone, Juan Palomino, Pablo Sala & Demián Salomón. Running Time: 73 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: March 12, 2024.
