TIFF '18 Film Review - The Accused

Delores Dreier (Lai Esposito) wakes up at her best friend Camila Nieves' s house after a drunken night of partying. She grabs her knapsack and heads home seeing Camila passed out on her couch. Later she learns her friend had been stabbed to death and she is the main suspect accused of murder.  The film starts two years after the party. The case of the schoolgirl murdered by her best friend is a cause celebre in Buenos Aires. The trial is about to start with Delores' high powered defense counsel Ignacio Larocca (Daniel Fanego) getting his client ready for trial and the family ready for what will descend on them. Delores is combative, angry and self destructive often not acting in her best interest. She has a loyal friend Flo (Martina Campos)  by her side and a new Beau Lucas (Lautaro Rodriguez)  who might just be hanging around to get a piece of the action.

The grind of the affair on the families is at the centre of the film. Delores father Luis (Leonardo Sbaraglia) has spent just about every penny he has and feels that his daughter is not appreciative of all that he is doing to protect her. He along with his wife Betina (Ines Estevez) is fiercely protective of Delores little brother attempting to shield him from what is going on. Especially evident as they keep him out of a magazine article about the family being completed near the beginning of the film. On the other side is the mother of the deceased Marisa (Ana Garibaldi). She is sure that Delores did the crime, Delores and Camila had had a fight over a video of a sex act involving Delores that Camila posted online.

Director Gonzalo Tobal paces the film well. The legal goal is never far from the surface in the narrative. It's not to show that Delores is innocent. It's about raising enough doubt to show that she is not guilty. Part of that strategy is to appear on a local TV Current events show with a notorious host Mario Elmo (Gael Garcia Bernal). Gonzalo also has a secondary story about a wild cat on the loose roaming the neighbourhoods. News crews gather trying to catch a glimpse as the authorities try to cage the animal. Not dissimilar to what is going on with Delores.

The Accused is a tightly packaged tale of a big court case in Argentina. The first difference a viewer may notice that the trial is decided by three judges and not a jury. Lead Actress Lai Esposito who is a pop star in Argentina plays Delores in a subdued trance like state just wanting the ordeal to be over one way or the other. Director Tobal jumps on the modern reality that justice is not the important thing but instead your ability to tell a story that will win public opinion and hopefully sway the lawmakers.

*** Out of 4.

The Accused | Gonzalo Tobal | Argentina / Mexico | 2018 | 108 Minutes.

Tags: Trial, Murder, Stabbing, Back Pack, Magazine Article, Haircut,Sex Tape,TV Show, Cottage, Scissors,Well