Private eye Carlos is hired by Lucy, the wife of a rich businessman, to
spy on her husband, who she thinks is cheating on her (and he is, too) -
but it is when he stumbles upon a couple of corpses that Carlos begins to
realize he's onto something bigger: It's all a big case of embezzlement
with Lucy's husband at the center, but Carlos just can't make head or
tails of it. And his perception is clouded, too, as he has fallen in love
with Lucy, who seems to react favourably to his avances, but who really
has a more sinister agenda - and thus Carlos even helps her murder a man
convinced he is only saving her life. In the end though, Lucy finds
herself cornered, but she still finds a way to have her revenge on her
husband (her main motive): She shoots herself before his very eyes but
somehow manages to press the weapon in to his hand just before dying,
making him the logical culprit ... On a plot level, Otario
is your typical film noir, and many great films have been made out of
similar storylines. That Otario is not one of them is primarily due
to its direction that goes out of its way to make the film not a gritty
crime drama but a tasteful period piece (the film is set in 1941), and it
drowns everything in earthy colours (primarily beige), easy-on-the-eye
soft filter shots and unexcited (and unexciting) editing. Now all this
doesn't make Otario a terrible film, just a movie that doesn't even
come close to exploit its possibilities.
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