The Mad Monkey – El sueno del mono loco (1989)

Directed by: Fernando Trueba | 103 minutes | thriller | Actors: Jeff Goldblum, Miranda Richardson, Anémone, Daniel Ceccaldi, Dexter Fletcher, Liza Walker, Jerome Natali, Asunción Balaguer, Arielle Dombasle, Micky Sébastian

Fernando Trueba, an unknown name to many, is a Spanish director who – certainly in his own country – has won the necessary film awards. He has also directed the Spanish beauty Penélope Cruz in two films, of which ‘Belle époque’ is the most famous. Trueba came up with ‘The Mad Monkey’ in 1989, after fifteen years of experience as a director, producer and screenwriter. It is not immediately apparent from the film that he already had so much experience. This one comes across as somewhat amateurish, especially in terms of camera and editing. However, when you look a little longer, the film turns out to be quite intriguing.

This has largely to do with the actors and especially with the lead role played by Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum is an actor who – with his long, spider-like body and his characteristic head – draws all the attention to himself. The close filmed style of ‘The Mad Monkey’ responds well to this. Jeff Goldblum already set the tone for the kind of film in which he would excel for the rest of his career in ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ in 1978. From that moment on he was mainly cast as an eccentric, intelligent type, masculine and at the same time a bit inhuman. His best roles were in Cronenberg’s ‘The Fly’ and Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’. Thanks in part to Jeff Goldblum, what at first glance appears to be a B-movie with a muddled plot turns out to be in fact a pretty interesting film. The type of movie you don’t see often these days. The film is not only about making a film – which leads to an interesting layering – but also refers a lot to older films and in terms of style resembles film noir and the French nouvelle vague (late fifties, early sixty). The ominous, slow film music makes you feel like you’re in a Hitchcock production like ‘Vertigo’ and the music wouldn’t look out of place in a haunted house either.

Despite the vague plot and the somewhat scruffy appearance, ‘The Mad Monkey’ is definitely worthwhile for fans of films in which dream and reality are difficult to separate. Let yourself be carried away by a world of intrigue, incest, murder, jealousy and a glimmer of hope and don’t judge too quickly. An absolute must for fans of Jeff Goldblum and possibly also worth checking out for people who found the recent Spanish/English production ‘El Maquinista’ (‘The Machinist’, 2004) interesting: expect a slightly less strong film, with powerful performances, a dreamy atmosphere, a lot of drama and a predominantly blue look.