THE MOLE AGENT
FILM OUT 11 DECEMBER CINEMAS
Top doc about an OAP reinventing himself as Sherlock Care-Ho(l)mes.
Keen to see if you can teach an old dog new tricks, Maite Alberdi’s delightful shape-shifting crime caper documentary rides shotgun with tack-smart octogenarian Sergio Chamy, going undercover in a Santiago care home to investigate abuse allegations.
Reeling us in with the first-time sleuth’s comic struggles with Facetime, the film’s bumbling charm gives way to a thoughtful, heartwarming journey from snoop to saviour. Alberdi starts with a slow film noir feel (all shadowstriped offices and serious briefings), but her film is as wily and well-disguised as her hero. Her crew’s ‘cover’ becomes the observational documentary they’re allegedly shooting in the sunny, female-filled care home.
Beautifully spiced with low-lit peeps at Sergio’s secret reporting to his PI boss, it immerses us in a gossipy world of old-lady-longing, as Sergio’s friendliness gets the ‘mole’ voted ‘King’ at the home’s lavish anniversary party. Never losing its kindly comedy (like Sergio’s gentlemanly rebuffs to the persistently amorous Berta), the film grows into another type of investigation, a poignant portrait of the scrapes and yearnings of poet Petita, repeat-runaway Marta and the lonely Rubira.
A geriatric heartthrob with a big heart, Sergio keeps us gripped as he makes some big discoveries – but not necessarily those he’s being paid for. Full of compassion and curiosity, it’s a film that will make you call Granny as soon it’s over.