Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: DEATH HAS NO MASTER [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]

Looking at “Death Has No Master” from director Jorge Thielen Armand, the idea of what constitutes ownership in an world that is collapsing is an intriguing question. Asia Argento plays Caro, a woman who returns to her childhood home in Venezuela which she and her Mom left from (to Italy) presumably when she was a little girl (and away from her father). She returns to claim his jungle-like ark residence which seems bathed in old school ruins but representative of the 1600s. She finds Sonia who likely was the housekeeper there with her young son but also others that seem to have found solace there. Caro knows she needs to sell but these people won’t leave and the law to enforce this is not existent. One man on the property: Joni, used to work for her dad (but he also seems to understand the pendulum of violence). Armand is speaking of the current state in many countries and an interesting early scene at a police station shows what Caro is dealing with in terms of squatters rights and who can lay ownership to a space. It is an ironic play since the context of colonialism rings very clear. The jungle becomes bathed as time goes on in blood and old books. Argento, in one scene, whips her father’s picture as she destroys his library speaking of how he left her life a mess. Sonia (Dogreika Tovar) doesn’t back down and tries to assert her rights, however right or wrong they may be.

There is a lot of talk of family and home but neither really rings true because it ultimately comes down to survival. Caro has one ally but even he knows the way that the country works. The progression and eventual outcome are all but assured in the beginning...and the foreshadowing is very clear. It doesn’t take back the fact that it is tragic but doing it against this backdrop of this house lost in time, and gothic in nature is fitting. Argento plays the modern context well but she also begins to wear her mom’s dresses and it takes on a different ideal of time especially when it seems she is trying to understand her attacker's plight but also needs to stand her ground. The lighting done with shadows and a lot of natural light really brings out the isolation (though the house is not far from a town). A mid-film progression of Caro to a hotel to find answers precludes a very interesting speech by a local hotel owner who talks about how the country can swallow you up even if you have a precise target (which he did). The ending tries to be mythic but there was one more way out though the reasoning in in the final moments why one action is taken rather than another is understood. Armand likes using brutal ironic imagery of nature in a way too because blood is covered with green, dragon fruit connects lust within the land and there is even a pool that supposedly can wash away regret. "Death Has No Master" is a contemplative tale with a gothic spin about the nature of humanity when there is very little left. It is anchored by a meditative and intense performance by Asia Argento. 84%/B

By Tim Wassberg