RED LIGHTS

Dr. Margaret Matheson and her collaborator Tom Buckley are renowned investigators of paranormal phenomena. Their task is to identify and expose self-proclaimed psychics, mediums, and healers, proving they are actually charlatans and frauds. But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver reappears after a 30-year absence from the scene, Dr. Matheson, who had already confronted him without results many years earlier, advises her colleague not to pursue the case, suspecting Silver's involvement in the death of a critic that occurred just before his retirement. Buckley, however, is determined to expose Silver, but the more he gets close to the psychic, the more the man begins to question his convictions: what if Silver really had paranormal powers? In scientific terms, "red lights" are defined as small clues capable of revealing the deception that may be hidden behind events that seemingly have a supernatural origin. The loose floorboard that makes the table easily wobbly during a séance, for example, is a "red light" and it is precisely these "red lights" that paranormal researchers look at to understand if they are facing an authentic event or a hoax. The second film by Rodrigo Cortés, director of the highly interesting "Buried - Sepolto," revolves entirely around this concept of true and false, demonstrable or not, real or supernatural, playing with the viewer in the same way that the psychic Simon Silver plays with Tom Buckley. The premises are excellent, the story is original and the characters well characterized, yet Cortés's film manages to be uneven: for every ball in the hole, it obligatorily places one outside! The strength of "Red Lights" undoubtedly lies in the subject that addresses a rarely explored theme in genre cinema. In this case, it discusses the paranormal from a scientific point of view, posing a genuine clash between the pragmatism of science and superstition, understood as magic and the supernatural. Cortés seems to suggest from the introduction that the supernatural does not exist and that every event that seems inexplicable is, on the contrary, perfectly demonstrable. The séance that opens "Red Lights" is promptly deconstructed by the two "supernatural exposers" with the immediate demonstration that the suggestion given by the right atmosphere, combined with credulity and a few magic tricks, have a greater power than that of the dead. A promising start, therefore, combined with a good characterization of the two main characters, a scientist with a character well tempered by time and experience, magnificently portrayed by Sigourney Weaver finally back in a prominent role, and her young assistant who fights against human superstition as a reflection of the teachings received, embodied by a always professional Cillian Murphy. It only takes a few minutes to define everything effectively, including the entrance of the charismatic and mysterious "retired" psychic, played by a fitting Robert De Niro. Everything that follows is, unfortunately, redundancy. After the excellent shots fired in the first twenty minutes, the screenplay written by Cortés himself tends to continuously show Matheson and Buckley at work exposing cases of false paranormal phenomena, parallel to the story of Simon Silver preparing to return to the scene. "Red Lights" abandons itself to a strange torpor and manages to elicit too many yawns, giving the impression that the 113 minutes of duration are excessive and the film would have benefited from a trim in the editing phase. In the second half, the film begins to regain interest, mysteries arise, others are revealed, and the relationships between characters become ambiguous, but there is always the impression that Cortés has put in more than necessary, such as the scene where Tom goes to Silver's apartment, unnecessary to the film's economy and perhaps harmful to the logic that drives the characters. Credit must be given to the author, however, for having hit the mark with the ending and although a certain prolixity is noted even in concluding the story, the much-announced encounter-clash between science and the supernatural has unexpected and well-managed twists. Cortés confirms, therefore, that he has talent, but "Red Lights" has the air of a work with unfulfilled potential, a film that perhaps would have deserved a screenplay revision and a trim in the editing phase. Interesting but not fully successful. Add half a pumpkin.