The Method (2005)

Too much of everything

Pretty Good

Fresh and Exciting

best movie i've ever seen.

There is something about films set more or less in a single room. There is nothing to distract from the subjects and when well done, the characters just grow on you. As part of my mission to learn Spanish, I've been poring over language books, newspapers and movies. The last of the lot is the most fun of all. El Método was a delightful surprise. A group of people face an unconventional selection process for a job. A mysterious "receptionist" lays some ground rules and it is very likely that all of them are being watched. At once a brilliant study of psychology and a edge-of-the-seat thriller, El Método is intelligent and, well, methodical. Having been disappointed with the psychological-thriller variety after Shutter Island and Black Swan, I am glad to have seen this.

This film is about a group of candidates in a job interview, where they have to eliminate themselves so that only one person is left to get the job."The Method" is an intense film with constant psychological battles going on. It is very dialog heavy, and actors all speak very fast. It was not east to catch up with the amount of subtitles I had to read, but the intelligent exchanges of words made up for it. The battles in the room for the job echoes the riots outside the building, which further enhances the atmosphere of aggressiveness. Despite that, the film has many moments of relative ease and humour. The story is engaging throughout, but the open ended ending disappoints me. I hoped for a clear ending, as it would be satisfying to see who won the psychological battles.

El Método In Madrid seven candidates report for a job interview as protesters rise up in public protest in the street over the IMF-World Bank Summit attempting globalization of workers unions. As the group interview begins high above in a corporate meeting room, one of the candidates refuses to continue to fill out seemingly identical paperwork again, & many of the others question the validity of the supposed Grönholm Method being implemented in the interview session to choose the best person for the job. As the day progresses each prospective candidate is assigned a computer terminal & at points each is given an individual message while other times the group as a whole is addressed. What develops is survival-method way of having each candidate determine whether or not a specific group member is a good fit by voting him or her out of the interview process. One by one, as each member gets voted out by the others what develops is a ruthless manipulation of corporate mind games based upon deception & psychology. At the end a brittle bond is formed between two final candidates who must compete for the new job. I have been watching a lot of Spanish Language lately & came across this 2005 release. It is a very sophisticated movie. I am surprised it has not be remade by a USA film company. This film is done with an ensemble case & takes place in one interview room (& chat/talk in the restrooms) It compares to 12 Angry men from Russia. (I think the job applicant plot is more interesting) "El Metodo" has an excellent cast of Spanish actors (mostly young) that interact well in the ensemble cast setting. Eduardo Noriega & Najwa Nimri are seen as Carlos & Nieves. Both give good performances. Mysterious Pablo Echarri is also solid. Eduard Fernandez, Carmelo Gomez, Adriana Ozores, Ernesto Alterio & Natalia Verbeke complete the cast in this sophisticated psychological film. this film originally a stage play by Jordi Galceras, & brilliantly adapted here by Mateo Gil. This film did not get rave review from many reviewers but I like it and found it a very strong film. Its not commercial or mainstream so it wont appeal to most of the film going public's taste. however I liked it. four stars

It's the thought of the situation. The thought of being there in the same situation as the characters of "The Method" is what makes it so damn interesting, and nerve-wracking, and good. The rest is soup, as some may say. There are no new tricks being attempted here, no important message to be delivered; in fact, when the movie gets serious about the situation of the world economy or when it drifts into love relationships between some characters, it losses its rhythm. The juice is in the method of the title, the Gronholm Method; something companies apparently do select a person for a vacant working position. In a wide spaced room, we meet Julio (Carmelo Gómez), Ana (Adriana Ozores), Enrique (Ernesto Alterio), Ricardo (Pablo Echarri), Fernando (Eduard Fernández), Nieves (Najwa Nimri) and Carlos (Eduardo Noriega); seven individuals who are applying for the same position. Montse (Natalia Verbeke), a secretary, receives them kindly, but once they are inside that room, they're completely on their own.And it becomes like a jungle, like the definition Darwin once expressed as 'natural selection', where the most apt will prevail. The humans that instantly turn into animals device their strategy and start playing the game. They follow instructions that are given by texts written in computers, but always wander off and end up talking about some deeper than company responsibilities: moral issues, survival issues, romantic and sexual issues and the economic situation that's always present. To describe each of the characters separately has no point. I can merely say that Ernesto Alterio takes the biggest round of applause, as he expresses an initial enthusiasm with the strange situation that gradually turns into insecurity and desperation. Carmelo Gómez is also especially good in representing exactly the opposite. Echarri playing a wiseass is something we've seen a lot of times, and it does him no good because it's hard to believe anything he says; while Verbeke delivers a perfect secretary that shows an excess of sweetness so that it becomes impossible to trust her. Three years after "Kamchatka", Marcelo Piñeyro's major achievement is the decision of taking the renowned play the movie's based on to the big screen. The people I know (including myself) watch more movies than plays (and I love plays), and "The Method" gives them and everyone the possibility of experiencing something that has to be experienced. I wanted to see the play but never did. Piñeyro, with a necessary respect for silence (and the correct use of incidental music that comes from the secretary's office next to the room in which everything takes place), embraces the tension that the play represents and, by using ferocious close-ups and keeping his actors focused and under control, makes us feel we're there, watching these people closely.And the play is play no more. It's a movie now, called "The Method", that doesn't transcend the merely theatrical, but provides us a timeless document that shows a powerful and shocking experience we can grab and watch any time we feel like it.