Review of Wrinkles (2011) by Mikael K — 01 May 2013

Based on a graphic novel by the same name "Arrugas" tells the thought-provoking tale of Emilio, an old man whose family sends him into a home for the elderly after he starts having fits of memory loss. Reluctant to go, Emilio finds the home depressing with its clinical atmosphere. He avoids a staircase that goes to the floor above his ward, a place they take the patients who have lost their sense of reality.

Emilio soon befriends some of the other patients in the home, making it all easier to bear. But with the contant presence of diappointment, an air of giving up and death, he soon starts to fear for his future and realize that most of what he was and did is truly in the past.

"Arrugas" addresses the experience of growing old powerfully, with raw, straightforward directness but also a deep sence of humanity. We truly get attached to all these different characters the film presents and we are devasted to feel them all slip away with their own pace. Every secong of the movie is grippingly intense yet tender and beautiful. Rarely does a film manage to be so honestly touching, filled with emotion and wisdom without a trace of exploitative sentimentalism. This 2d world feels more real than most cinematic creations, and it makes you face your own mortality in a way I've never quite encountered before.