Title – The Invisible Guest (2016)

Director – Oriol Paulo (The Mirage)

Cast – Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, Jose Coronado, Bárbara Lennie

Plot – Successful businessman Adrián Doria (Casas) and his lover Laura (Lennie) enter into a dangerous game of lies relating to the death of a young man with Adrián’s last hope of escape resting in the hands of esteemed lawyer Virginia Goodman (Wagener).

“Every story has two sides. The truth, only one”

Review by Eddie on 28/01/2021

When you browse the IMDB Top 250 film list, a list many film lovers use when researching or debating the supposed “best films” ever, there’s one film that regularly keeps popping up in a list filled with the likes of undisputed classics like The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption or The Dark Knight, and that film is Spanish thriller The Invisible Guest.

Available for our viewing pleasures courtesy of Netflix, Guest was a film that initially received solid if unremarkable critical ratings on release to go alongside a decent box office haul off a minimal budget but in the years that have now followed on since its 2016 release timeframe, director Oriol Paulo’s work has gained more and more traction across the globe.

Put simply, the film is certainly not one you could strongly argue deserves a place in a list like the IMDB Top 250 but its a fun thriller, one that does the job of a Saturday night filler perfectly and its a universal story of intrigue, misdirection and a serious case of the whodunnits that has already seen various redoing’s in other markets such as India and is destined to land in a Hollywood studio at a not to distant point.

You will need to throw away your hard questionings of characters motivations and some highly unlikely situations to get full enjoyment out of Paulo’s at times extremely over the top affair but if you’re willing to check your brain at the door and allow the film some moments of grace and leeway, Guest will hook you from start to finish as you end up at a finale that perhaps isn’t as shocking as it could’ve been despite many proclaiming its “twist” as a significant genre moment from the last few cinematic years.

Most things in Guest outside of its twisting, turning and constantly moving narrative aren’t overly original, much of the film feels familiar in parts both story wise and delivery wise while many of the performances from the films cast don’t convey too much of note but as a high-end TV like product that will provide viewers with an adrenaline rush of thriller fills, Guest does it’s job as well as one could’ve hoped for.

Final Say – 

Not a Top 250 movie of all time experience, The Invisible Guest is still an enjoyable genre ride and one that is likely to see the light of day very soon in a newly minted Hollywood sheen.

3 lawyers notes out of 5