A Monster with a Thousand Heads

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rodrigo Plá directs. Leonardo Heiblum scores. Miguel Schverdfinger cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Uruguay, Mexico. Dialogue in Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 74-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 2Released 10 years ago.
• 3International production across 2 countries: Uruguay, Mexico.
• 4Original score by Leonardo Heiblum. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Miguel Schverdfinger shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Veronica Falcón and Jana Raluy and Sebastián Aguirre carry the top of the cast.
• 7IMDB entry: tt4569240 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 43 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Original score

Leonardo Heiblum

Editing

Miguel Schverdfinger

Costume design

Malena de la Riva

Sound

Alejandro de Icaza

Runtime

74 min · 1h 14m

Status

Released

Original language

ES

Certification (US)

14

IMDB

A Monster with a Thousand Heads (2016) ↗

Also by

Rodrigo Plá

• 
  Sierra Madre: No Trespassing

  2024 · ★ 7.6
• 
  The Eye on the Nape

  2001 · ★ 7.0
• 
  The Zone

  2007 · ★ 6.4
• 
  The Other Tom

  2021 · ★ 5.4
• 
  Revolución

  2010 · ★ 5.1
• 
  The Desert Within

  2008 · ★ 5.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  A Monster with a Thousand Heads Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Spanish Drama HD

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2016-09-09
  ★ 7/10

  A bold attempt to fight the flawed system. A Mexican thriller-drama based on the novel of the same name. A theme about fighting a defect in the health insurance policy by an ordinary middle-class family. I had no idea of what this film is about, in the last minute I decided to watch, not even knowing about the storyline or its genre. But intrigued by its honest narration. The depiction in the film might not how in the real world happen, yet it uncovers what the desperate people can able to do if they were not treated fairly. You should not judge it by its cover, I mean its low rating and bad reviews. It is a much better film with a message. The film ran nearly 75 minutes, which is shorter than an average film length, but it revealed everything it wanted to tell the viewers in a bold attempt. One of the realistic films I have ever seen that dealt with the real world issue in an unconventional way. The story of a middle aged wife Sonia, whose husband is very ill and completely depending on the insurance to cover the bills, but the company refuses to pay. So her quest commence to convince them and when she realises it is complicated, in the desperation she takes an alternate route to handle the situation. The following events are unexpected, powerful, before emotionally concluding. "Next time, we'll rob a bank, okay?" It is not about the corruption, but still fits in that category. In the end how you take it all matters. It started off like a slow drama, the developments were failed to impress me until the first 20 minutes. Surprised by the series of events came after that. The mother and son fighting the system their way when there was no option left, or maybe going through the legal proceeding might cost the time and life of the patient. They knew their position, and they did what have to be done at that point without thinking the consequence. It is definitely an interesting take, the writer might have inspired by the real poor people's struggle to access the health insurance benefits, especially in the developing countries. So she added some extra contents to the screenplay (book) where the characters in the story can fight the bureaucracy and to make the story appeal its audience. The film was awesomely made, though there was no money making agenda behind it. The actors, particularly the one as Sonia was amazing, she could convince the viewers the character she played or the story are not fake. And then often, the gunfire sounds suddenly changes the environment in the film to pick up the pace like we do hit the refresh in our computer. That one night event where most of the story takes place was looked some kind of undercover operation by the media. But the camera angles to cover the other side of some of the scenes were smart enough to pour in more interesting stuffs to us to stick with it. This film can't be watched for entertainment or to gain inspiration from unlawful act that shown in it, but it's set to deliver its own message. I don't think anybody would regret watching it, because it is short and sweet and the topic of the film is alone worth a watch. There are some full male nude scenes, but they were unintentional. Other than that it is a good film for everybody, especially for the grown ups I suggest. 7/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• BU

  Buenaventura

  MX

Key crew

• CinematographyOdei Zabaleta
• Co-ProducerMatthias Ehrenberg
• ProducerSandino Saravia Vinay
• EditorMiguel Schverdfinger
• Co-ProducerLuis Díaz
• Line ProducerAna Hernández
• Co-ProducerRicardo Kleinbaum
• ProducerRodrigo Plá
• Associate ProducerYamandu Rodriguez
• Associate ProducerLaura Santullo
• Art DirectionBarbara Enriquez
• Art DirectionAlejandro García
• Production ManagerAlejandro Cortés Rubiales
• Post Production SupervisorAriel Gordon
• Production CoordinatorAlettia Molina
• Second Assistant DirectorLuisa Castellanos
• Second Assistant DirectorTess Anastasia Fernández
• First Assistant DirectorRaúl Sebastián Quintanilla
• Set DresserSandra Flores
• Graphic DesignerOscar Tello
• Foley ArtistJosé E. Caldararo
• Foley RecordistAgustín Casola
• Sound Re-Recording MixerAlejandro de Icaza
• Supervising Sound EditorAlejandro de Icaza

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• insurance company

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2016-07-2814