History of the Occult (Historia de lo Oculto)

 Long-running Argentinian news program 60 Minutes to Midnight aired its last episode in 1987; By then it had been involved in an almost year-long investigation into the death of a John Doe believed to have ties to then-president Belasco.

 Facing backout by all sponsors, censure by the government and a soured relationship with the channel hosting them, the showrunners intended to go out with a bang; Included within the last's episode's guest list was Adrián Marcato (Germán Baudino), an industrialist with deep ties to the president who had cut ties with the government and the company he had helped found to turn into a preacher for the end times. It'd be a last-ditch attempt for the host (Hector Ostrovsky) to try and get the man to tell the truth about the murder... and the president's possible involvement with it.

 While the main show transmitted from its Channel 6 stage, a handful of the programme's journalists (Nadia Lozano, Casper Uncal, Agustín Recondo and Iván Esquerre) toiled away at a remote location, working on a plan that gets more bizarre as midnight approaches.

 History of the Occult is set in a parallel Argentina where the Falklands have been reclaimed as the Malvinas, native actress Andrea del Bocca starred in The Exorcist, and Rosemary's Baby seems to have been a national production (the film goes on to feature more than one reference to Polanski's masterpiece). It's filmed in black and white with a few shots that evoke noir, and on a 4:3 aspect ratio that keeps the action tight and claustrophobic.

 There's a ton of cultural references beyond some specific mentions and the all-pervading, typically Argentinian wariness towards anything governmental. Marcato seems to be pretty clearly modeled after López Rega, an extremely murky historical figure who was linked to both (allegedly) the occult and to far-right death squads; He was known as El Brujo (the warlock), just as Marcato is here.
 Plot points in the movie include the government erasing people from reality, to the point where no one can remember they ever existed - which also seems like an allusion to the disappeared (desaparecidos) of semi-recent Argentinian history.

 But the script is very, very oblique, and its themes of hidden power universal enough that I don't think it's necessary to have any grounding in local history to enjoy this very, very clever and deeply strange  movie. Writer/director Cristian Ponce weaves a tale of intrigue and paranoia that has far-reaching metaphysical implications, leaving vast swathes of its mysteries unexplained and trusting us to pick up enough pieces to build our own interpretation.

 The dialog is sharp, most of the acting is fairly good (with a couple of exceptions), and the cinematography (by Franco Cerana and Camilo Giordano) and sound design ooze atmosphere. It's impossible to miss that this was done with a very low budget, but it works smartly within its limitations without sacrificing the scope of its story.

 I can easily see how someone would find it unsatisfying, but the execution and the drip of new information is handled expertly, and it's a rare movie that attempts to portray weird fiction this weird. I love it.