Painless (2012)

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

In the 30's, a group of children that feel no pain are sent to an asylum to be locked in individual cells to avoid hurting other people and themselves. They stay there along the Spanish Civil War and Second World War. The prominent German Dr. Holzmann (Derek de Lint) tries to rehabilitate the children and has conflicts with the Director Dr. Carcedo (Ramon Fontserè). Dr. Holzmann is fascinated by the boy Benigno, who is the smartest of the group and a survivor.In the present days, David (Àlex Brendemühl) has a car accident where his wife Anaïs (Irene Montalà) dies and their premature baby survives. He discovers that he has a severe cancer and he needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. He visits his parents and he learns that they are not his biological parents. David seeks out his biological parents and discovers dark secrets from his past."Insensibles", a.k.a. "Painless", is a gloomy drama with a promising beginning. However, the narrative is cold, developed in and slow pace and without emotion. The poor development of characters makes the plot confused and boring in some moments. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Insensíveis" ("Insensible")

I loved this mystery.. Dark and heartfelt terror fill the story..Old fashioned ghost story without a ghost.. I'm a movie freak and this foreign flick fulfilled everything I enjoy.. The subtitles are easy and the story doesn't really need words anyway..Simple and well acted but with a very squeamish subject; children and (Spanish War)torture..The story splits between two worlds and I loved being led down the dark corridors of my imagination trying to suss out the riddle that's laid out from the beginning.. I'm sure to see this again just to watch the beauty hidden between the atrocities of war playing out.. If all you've known is suffering, beauty becomes a precious balance to cruelty. If you can't stomach fingernails being pulled off, blood, the ripping of flesh, AND torture, it's the wrong movie for you.. And if you're looking for a movie like Saw and believe this is one of those movies, wrong again.. It's not for you.. It has a very Guiermo Del Toro feel to it but it has it's own unique attitude, I mean if you have sympathy for evil, this one will bring it out.. And like Del Toro's scripts, the guy you're afraid of through the whole thing will have you crying for him by the end..

The movie is not so much a horror flick, than it is a thriller. Many filmmakers say that, because they don't want to be associated with horror, but in this case I haven't seen any interview with the director, so it's my statement to the movie. You could also call it mystery I suppose.Of course the movie has two time-lines and you will be able to figure out quickly, which is playing at the moment. It might not be clear from the get go (the connection that is), but you might be able to figure out where this is going way before the final conclusion/confrontation comes knocking. I was expecting a bit more, but the film is still able to reach to you if you let it. And once again, kids can be creepy too ...

I was expecting a lot from this film, as the premise is very good: Back to the 30's, in a small town in Catalonia, a group of children are not sensible to pain. This strong premise is very promising but from the start we understand that a mixed and confusing story is coming... It begins with two plots which are continually crossing each other during the film: the one referred about the kids, initially set in the 30's, and other one set nowadays about a medical doctor which loses his wife and at the same time discovers he has a cancer. It's clear these two plots are related but the way they constantly cross along the movie is a bit confusing and boring.(spoiler) But the worst for me was to discover that this nice and promising theme (of the insensible children) was just a pretext to a (banal!) story of a son searching his own past to find his unknown mother and father… A good thematic was completely spoiled here in my perspective! (end spoiler) However not everything is bad here! The dark atmosphere created is very good and the monastery chosen as setting is really creepy! But generally this movie defrauded my expectation, mostly because of the plot's disclosures and its ending