A glacial pall engulfs the steadily sunless beachfront town of La Boca, but for the five fallen priests who are sentenced to make it their purgatory, it might as well be an all-inclusive stay at Club Med. What exactly all of these men did to earn their place in this repentant, Vatican-approved house of detention is never made clear. But when a new arrival takes his own life, the Church dispatches Father Garcia (Marcelo Alonso) to act as both investigator and Father confessor. It’s during his visit that Larrain’s unmistakable ability to shed laughter on the most inopportune moments surges to the fore, but it’s the calm before the storm. The scattered third half resorts to shock and horror as a means of tying loose threads. The climactic carnage that overruns both man and beast nudges this well away from social commentary and in the direction of ineffective gothic horror. Ashen-faced Pablo Larrain staple Alfredo Castro is brilliant as always (is this the first time in four features that he’s been allowed to crack a smile?) but it’s Antonia Zegers’s Sister Mónica — the only hen in the rooster cage, who acts as the terminally sunny “jail-keeper” and knows a good meal ticket when she rides one — who earns top acting honors. In Spanish with English subtitles. (2015) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.