Rotterdam 2026 Review: GUNMAN Is One Shot That Hits
Cris Tapia Marchiori's thriller is a pulse-pounding run through a gang war
As protagonists go, Pablo is not exactly the most sympathetic one: Gatillero starts with him doing an armed robbery of a small supermarket. Just out of jail and low on cash, Pablo appears to have a stroke of luck when local gangsters hire him to do a easy job: scare someone into paying them. He'd be crazy to refuse it, right?
Unbeknownst to Pablo, he is walking straight into a trap, the start of a planned gang war for which a scapegoat is needed by both sides.
Unbeknownst to the gangsters using him, Pablo turns out to be incredibly fast on his feet, a great shot, and a veritable parkour runner on speed. A wiry elastic puppet with a heartrate of 200, fueled by pure adrenaline, the terrified and ultra-hyper Pablo takes off like a rocket while the neighborhood explodes around him. And it's not just the gangsters: the local civilians, fed up with the unending crime spree, decide to take matters into their own hands, creating a third army...
Filming a story in one shot poses a risk. Like with found-footage, you need a damn good reason for using it or it comes across as gimmicky. Gatillero does it right, as following the fast-running Pablo gives you a very good sense of the environment the film is shot in, the infamous Isla Maciel quarter. Director Marchiori, really from that region (and dedicating his film to friends from there, alive and dead...), works wonders here. Tension is achieved early on and doesn't let up, this is a film you WILL watch white-knuckled.
And a special mention must be made of Sergio Podeley, the actor playing Pablo, who must be one hell of an athlete. The film isn't really one continuous shot (allegedly there are two or three secret cuts) but there aren't many moments of respite for Sergio, who is constantly running, jumping, yelling, climbing... I assume that every second off-screen they provided water and oxygen for the poor man.
Fantastically paced, at a mere 80 minutes it whooshes by like a bullet. I was very impressed and loved it, I felt transported to another part of the world. It is literally the sort of pleasant surprise you go to a film festival for. Highly recommended.
Gatillero a.k.a. Gunman is on the tail end of its world tour around festivals. Check it out if it's in your neighborhood, but keep an eye out for streaming services as well as it should not take long to arrive.
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