Promising to do for Andalusia what Blue Ruin, Cold In July and the first season of True Detective did for the southern US, Goya-winner Marshland has a rural noir flavour that’s already impressed festivalgoers and critics. The Spanish thriller hits the UK in August and its promotional campaign has kicked off with a new trailer and an eye-catching new poster.
Marshland is set in 1980 during the country’s transition from the Franco era to democracy. Its premise sees two teenage girls disappearing and a pair of cops, Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) and Pedro (Raúl Arévalo), charged with tracking them down. Only, of course, there’s a serial killer involved. There’s always one.
The two homicide detectives have an uneasy relationship and plenty of their own demons, but director Alberto Rodriguez has by all accounts veered away from the odd-couple cop cliches that plague lesser thrillers to deliver an atmospheric, stylish Iberian slant on the genre.
Named for the region’s expanses of wetland, Rodriguez’s film has also drawn parallels with Argentinian Oscar-winner The Secret in Their Eyes. That one has just had the US remake treatment (the first trailer broke this week) and this might be another US execs will scrutinise for possible transplanting. If its success in Spain is anything to go by, Marshland will stand for itself.
If this takes your fancy - and Empire is on board to the tune of four stars - August 7 is the date to mark in your diary.