Undercover - SIFF [2025]

Undercover [2024]

Film

This film was viewed at the 51st Seattle International Film Festival

Appearances are everything, especially for Mónica (Carolina Yuste), who's been embedded in the ETA terrorist group as an undercover police officer for the past eight years. Celebrating murders, antagonizing police officers, and furiously lamenting the arrests and deaths of fellow ETA members are all appearances that Mónica will have to keep up as explained by her superior, Ángel (Luis Tosar). He’s the only person who knows Mónica's undercover identity. Outside of emotionally masquerading as an ETA member, Arantxa Echevarría's thrilling Undercover shows Mónica’s physical unraveling, as the toll of death and deception changes her from a young, beautiful, and idealistic officer to a reflection of the pain she's been enduring. The bags under her eyes grow with every additional day, balancing on the razor's edge between stopping the political violence and terror of ETA, and being killed if her true identity is revealed. While Echevarría's film doesn't necessarily reinvent the undercover thriller—we've seen these high stakes and familiar plotlines before- her steady direction and terrific build-up create a powder keg within Undercover, ready to explode at any moment, and with it the audience's nerves.

Mónica’s introduction and transformation into her undercover identity, Arantxa, follow the familiar arc of the classic incognito thriller. Ángel explains the usual ramifications and dangers, such as proximity to the enemy with no fallback, including no police record of her, and the necessity of spending eight years building this new identity to be recognized by the ETA. But Echevarría's film does a phenomenal job slowly building, at times maybe too slow, to an electrifying final act that doesn't completely subvert expectations but keeps your blood pumping enough so that it doesn't matter. Tense editing by Victoria Lammers and an active camera keep the action fluid and fast paced as Arantxa/Mónica's eight-year journey comes toward an explosive ending, teetering between success and failure. An outcome that could shift at a moment's notice, and within this stressful limbo, Undercover is sensational.

The high stakes and emotional fervor of Mónica, and that of Undercover as a whole, wouldn't work without the award-winning performance of Yuste. Her descent from the youthful recruit full of moral tenacity into paranoid desolation is reflected perfectly through her tremendous emotional communication. The role even requires a physicality that Yuste uses to command both the screen and the audience’s attention through anguished, silent screams and expressions filled with anxious pain. Of course, it helps that Diego Anido's Sergio, a high-ranking ETA leader hellbent on continuing their organization's violence, plays a terrific villain. Yuste and Anido share a bristling chemistry that elevates one another's performance, pushing us closer and closer to the edge of our seats as we watch their game of cat-and-mouse play out.

This "game" could've had more explanation behind it, a deeper dive into the ETA and their motivations. But that's also a cultural complaint, being an American who isn't taught much about the movement or time in Spain's history in depth. Ultimately, there's enough there to understand what's happening and who the key players are, and it helps that these players are delivered through such charismatic performances. Despite its predictability and occasional pacing lulls, Undercover still lands a knockout punch, driven by sheer determination. Just like Mónica's drive to be the one to end ETA once and for all, that same fire keeps Echevarría's covert thriller burning as bright as ever.

Froth

Speaking of familiarity, let's crack open this year's Washington Brewer's Guild Collab, the 2025 re-brew of Westies With Our Besties! Of the seven regional variations of the brew, I had the North Seattle Metro version at Fremont Brewing (brewed at the regional host brewery, Stoup Brewing) but there are six more that I'm looking forward to enjoying. This year's iteration is reminiscent of last year's along with a mighty fine example of what a West Coast IPA stands for. I'm talking about a strong dry finish, beautifully bright, and possessing a taste-bud popping level of hoppiness. There's, of course, the powerful bitterness that swings in too, complimenting the bright citrusy flavors. And thus, you have assembled a top-notch team of familiar West Coast IPA characteristics, but much like Undercover it's not the what it's the how. You know what to expect when you order a West Coast IPA, or at least I hope you have some idea, and instead of falling into a trough of predictability and been-there-had-that, this year's Westies With Our Besties is a triumphant brew. The North Seattle Metro Breweries have really knocked it out of the park and I thoroughly enjoyed the balance of the strength, pop of citrus, bitterness and hoppy resinous aroma and flavor that just packs a punch. Much like Undercover, I was pleasantly surprised, yet felt welcomed by a familiar friend that always finds new ways to impress me.