Title – The Platform (2019)

Director – Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (feature debut)

Cast – Ivan Massague, Zorion Eguileor, Emilio Buale, Antonia San Juan

Plot – Stuck in a vertical prison cell known as the Pit, everyday man Goreng (Massague) must navigate the various elements of his living hell as he fights for food and his survival.

“This is not a good place for someone who likes reading”

Review by Eddie on 27/03/2020

Coming out at the perfect time, as millions around the globe self-isolate and also find themselves victims of a world that went crazy for a time when many forgot that looking after themselves isn’t all there is to do as a human being, Spanish horror/thriller The Platform is a unique distraction in our current state of being.

Similar in theme to Cube in conception and any other survival horror that deals with the way in which our humanity can crumble where we are faced with life and death options, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s visually arresting and at times horrifically staged exercise in consistent tension is a great example of what can be achieved with imagination and a desire to tackle hefty social issues.

The film is centered around Ivan Masssgue’s book reading Goreng, who signs up for a secretive project that sees him awaken to a vertical prison of unknown levels, with food delivered once a day from a top down manner meaning the lower your level, the more likely you are to find yourself starved of food and sanity.

It’s a high concept offering and one Urrutia is up for exploring as he holds nothing back in the 90 minutes his been allotted, with cannibalism, sadism and human to human violence all prevalent as Goreng comes across a range of captives in his journey up and down the prison known as The Pit.

Accompanied by a strong visual design and an unnerving score by Aranzazu Calleja, The Platform creates a strong identity for itself, but after an extremely strong opening section where Goreng’s uneasy friendship with his older cellmate Trimagasi (played by a memorable Zorion Eguileor), the film finds itself struggling to make the most of it’s ideas and themes and we begin to progress down a plot line that isn’t as interesting or rewarding as we’d hoped it would be.

These type of uniquely staged event film’s often find trouble tying things up nicely and that’s absolutely the case with The Platfrom.

You can’t help but feel it’s insistence too keep many things mysterious and it’s outcomes more vague halts this impressive foreign feature from becoming a genre classic.

Final Say –

The Platform will make you look at food and humanity in a different light and there are times where this Spanish offering is downright brilliant but after a strong opening, The Platform ends up becoming a more so-so affair that can’t take us to a destination worthy of it’s idea.

3 1/2 panna cotta’s out 5