Mirageman
(2007/MagNet/Magnolia DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C- Extras: C- Feature: B-
There is
no shortage of Hollywood superhero films with
gigantic budgets and mind-blowing spectacle.
However, there is also a rising trend of low-budget indie filmmakers who
are creating their own – often more realistic and meaningful – renditions of
the superhero genre. Among the best of
them is the Chilean film Mirageman.
Chilean
martial artist and actor Marko Zaror plays Maco, a solitary man who, along with
his brother, was orphaned after a violent home invasion. Maco channels his grief and anger into his
training, but his brother – now living in an institution – has become
cripplingly introverted, rarely speaks, and never leaves his room. One night Maco stumbles upon a robbery in
progress and saves a television news reporter.
When he sees the hope and enthusiasm that the news has given his
brother, Maco decides to continue fighting crime and becomes Mirageman.
Mirageman is at once an intelligent film
that addresses the consequences and limitations of a “real life” masked
vigilante, and a raw back-to-basics martial arts film. Marko Zaror has a power and intensity to his
martial arts that hearkens back to Bruce Lee.
This film
was clearly shot on video, but it was executed competently so that it doesn’t
look rough the way video often does. The
picture is in the anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen format. The audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0) is a bit
rougher with some hiss on the dialogue track, but you won’t notice it unless
you’re listening for it.
The only
extra on the disc is a single “Behind the Scenes” featurette. Like the film, it’s not elaborate but it is
interesting and well put together.
Magnet
has a reputation of bringing together some of the best and most inventive films
that you would have otherwise never heard of, and Mirageman has more than earned its place on that list.
- Matthew Carrick
