El Diario (2024)

Olga and her daughter Vera move into a new house. After Olga's divorce, it is time to rebuild family relationships.

However, a mysterious box in their new home tests the already deteriorated stability of the family.

The genre of this Mexican film is dominated by psychological thrillers. But those elements of ambiguity, those that hint at external and supernatural factors, are all too relevant to the story.

Despite its technical advantages, with an excellent handling of the camera inside the new house, added to the acting contributions of Vera and Olga (both completely immersed in their roles), the script soon uses the trunk as a wild card that is used in a completely arbitrary way.

Suddenly a diary of the alleged killer appears, but it has been rewritten and new information emerges that allows the audience to understand what is going on: essentially, connecting the family's problems with the parallel reality revealed in the suitcase.

A mixture of both genres (psychological and fantastic) is left in no man's land. If we understand the suitcase as a subjective metaphor for Olga's thoughts, then the presence of her therapist as a witness to the events eliminates the ambiguity, but also does not explain the supernatural elements exposed.

The graphologist's explanation is also unclear: whether she was reading the text of the diary to identify the murderer or whether she was interpreting it in some way.

As a psychological thriller, “The Diary” feels more grounded and organic. Although it adds elements of fantasy, it doesn't quite know how to move between the two genres without performing “magic” on a whim.