"Passatger clandestí" proves, first of all, that the best intentions in the world don't make a good film. Villaronga tries here to resurrect somehow the film noir genre on its exotic side, I'm thinking films like Welles' "Lady from Shanghai", but does that in a way closer to Catalan comedy than anything else.
It's not a terrible film, it's a pleasure to see Simon Callow in a lead role or see how talented Mercè Pons is, but the film noir movies always had something that made them fascinating, call it a mood, texture, whatever, and "Passatger clandestí" lacks completely of this, besides having a confusing yet typical plot. Even having some things of interest the film disappoints completely, Villaronga shouldn't mess in unknown territories for him and if he does he should have done it better.
It's not a terrible film, it's a pleasure to see Simon Callow in a lead role or see how talented Mercè Pons is, but the film noir movies always had something that made them fascinating, call it a mood, texture, whatever, and "Passatger clandestí" lacks completely of this, besides having a confusing yet typical plot. Even having some things of interest the film disappoints completely, Villaronga shouldn't mess in unknown territories for him and if he does he should have done it better.
