Cinephiles are definitely familiar with the name of Oriol Paulo, because he has made some of the best movies (and a show) set in the thriller genre. Paulo also happens to have a weird connection to India because almost everything that he makes eventually gets remade in Hindi. The first feature film written by Paulo was Julia’s Eyes, and it was remade as Blurr. His debut directorial was The Body, which was not only remade in Hindi but also in Korean and Tamil-Kannada. Paulo then went on to make The Invisible Guest, which gained such worldwide popularity that it got an Italian, a Hindi, a Telugu, a Korean, a Kannada, and a Chinese remake. Paulo’s Mirage got a Hindi adaptation in the form of Dobaaraa. Paulo received critical acclaim and several awards for God’s Crooked Lines, and his first Netflix miniseries, The Innocent, was a massive hit. So, it’d be unfair to not have high expectations from the guy, right? Well, The Last Night at Tremore Beach is here to teach us that regardless of the bankability of a writer-director, you shouldn’t completely trust them to deliver.
Based on Mikel Santiago’s novel of the same name, Oriol Paulo’s The Last Night at Tremore Beach tells the story of Alex De La Fuente, an award-winning music composer who lives in a secluded house at the titular location. He spends most of his time, well, composing music, smoking cigarettes, and feeding a cat (named Socks) that actually doesn’t belong to him. Since his place doesn’t have network coverage, which is by design, he travels into town to access the Wi-fi and talk to his agent, Allan, and his children, Bea and Bruno, who live with his ex-wife, Paula. The hotel where he gets free Wi-Fi is also the meeting spot for him and his “secret” girlfriend, Judy. In addition to that, he shares an amicable relationship with his neighbors, Leo and Maria. While all seems peaceful and sweet on the surface, a little bit of digging reveals the fact that Alex suffers from some hereditary condition where, much like his mother Elvira, he thinks that he can see the future. Since this phenomenon has ruined his relationship with his family and tarnished his childhood and teenage years, Alex buries himself in work to avoid thinking about it. However, a freak accident causes Alex to get struck by lightning, and that seemingly exacerbates his soothsaying abilities, thereby prompting the composer to do everything he can to avert a disaster that only he is aware of.
Knowing what I know about Oriol Paulo’s body of work, I want to say that The Last Night at Tremore Beach definitely is about something. I mean, it certainly has a plot and a laundry list of characters. It talks about unchecked mental health issues, sexual assault (without a proper trigger warning), and music composition, I guess. But, if I am being really honest with myself, is the Netflix miniseries really about anything? Without getting into spoilers, by the end of the story, Paulo sort of made the whole ordeal feel redundant. The subplots that seemingly got some form of closure had such an air of ambiguity to them that they felt incomplete. So, to avoid getting wrapped up in the logic and rationale of the storytelling, I tried to look for the story’s heart and soul, and I drew a blank. Sure, Alex and his mother’s relationship and their “instinct” (the soothsaying ability that straddles the line between superpower and schizophrenia) formed the core of the story, and their tale was one of sacrifice and toxicity. However, as a viewer, if I am unsure of the veracity of the show’s events because Paulo whimsically kept exchanging fact with fiction via Alex’s visions, how am I going to connect with it emotionally? And if I am unable to connect with a show on an emotional level, how am I supposed to be moved by its twists and turns? Well, I guess that’s the real mystery of the show.
I don’t generally complain about the length of a movie or a show because length is rarely the problem; it’s the pacing. That said, each episode of The Last Night at Tremore Beach is over an hour long, with the last episode being 1 hour and 20 minutes. That last episode is longer than theatrically released mystery-thriller movies from the ‘40s and not even half as interesting as those films. And, I guess, that’s where I draw the line. Spending over 8 hours on a miniseries that seems to ignore relevance, entertainment, or intrigue and is only banking on its ambiguity seems like a colossal waste of my time. I want to specify “my time” because I’m sure there are people who think otherwise. To be honest, I would’ve given Paulo a pass if the visual storytelling was the least bit interesting. But other than the beauty of the location, captured beautifully through the wide shots, the miniseries is not at all creative when it comes to its cinematography and editing. There are a few crossfade transitions here and there, but that’s not enough to quell the frustration of watching the show. I’ll say that Paulo is thorough. He puts a lot of effort into making sure that every shot in every scene is packed with information and overstays its welcome. Sure, none of that matters by the time the narrative reaches its conclusion, but at least nobody can complain that things seemed half-hearted.
Talking about things that didn’t feel half-hearted, the actors in The Last Night at Tremore Beach certainly delivered committed performances. Javier Rey accurately conveyed the confusion, panic, and pain that his character was feeling. He did get on my nerves during the last two episodes because there was a lot of crying, panting, and frantically looking for things involved. But up until that point, I think he was great. Ana Polvorosa is splendid. I’m not sure about the grueling sexual assault sequence that she was made to go through. I think her vocal prowess and expressions alone could have captured the horrors that her character underwent. Guillermo Toledo and Pilar Castro were excellent. Carla Quilez and Jordi Catalan were phenomenal. I wish their characters had more substance because the child actors were certainly capable of elevating the material they were given. Nora Navas was certainly the showstealer. She had the meatiest role, and she absolutely ran with it. Despite Joxean Bengoetxea’s understated performance, I think he was brilliant. Antonio Buil and Laura Gaja didn’t have a lot of screentime, but it’s a testament to their acting chops that they managed to be so impactful whilst appearing in just 2 or 3 episodes. Ana Wagener, Clara Segura, Xavi Saez, Marta Marco, Carlota Olcina, Carme Pla, David Bages, and the rest of the supporting cast were pitch perfect. In my honest opinion, all of these talented actors deserved a better script.
You may think that this review is an apt encapsulation of my infuriating viewing experience of watching The Last Night at Tremore Beach, but trust me when I say that I am being civil in the name of professionalism. The words that I used while marinating in the atmosphere of boredom created by Oriol Paulo would have you throwing all kinds of holy books at me in order to sanctify the very air that we breathe and the soil that we walk on. The only reason I didn’t bring that energy into this review is because, as evident from the opening paragraph, Paulo has done some good, genre-defining work. And I don’t want to turn against him because of one bad, awful, atrocious, rancid, and mind-numbing Netflix miniseries. I am sure he has many more bizarre and twisted stories in store for us, and whatever he is going to come up with next is going to make The Last Night at Tremore Beach feel like a half-remembered hallucination. Until then, I’ll keep watching Paulo’s old stuff while you’re free to watch his latest “mind-bending” offering. Just don’t say that you weren’t warned.
