Cinequest: ALOYS

ALOYS
ALOYS

The title character of the Swiss drama Aloys is a solitary and harshly anti-social guy who repulses all gestures of human kindness and interest by others.  He is a private detective who specializes in documenting infidelity through undercover surveillance.  Using hidden microphones and cameras, he is steadfast in always avoiding contacting with his subjects.  Then, in a moment of recklessness, he allows someone to rock his life, which results in the riveting story of Aloys.

An unknown woman steals his surveillance tapes and taunts him over the phone.  In a completely original twist, she teases him with what she calls “phone walking”, daring him to use aural clues to visualize himself in places and situations and, ultimately find her.  At first, his desperation to find her creates an obsession worthy of The Conversation.  But then his imagination is unleashed, and he creates fantasies at once both more real and more outlandish.  This is not a movie that you’ve seen before.

Aloys is on a thrill ride that he can’t get off.  What is real, and what is fantasy? Can we be what we imagine?  Can someone trade in his own life for a more appealing fantasy life?  Can the fantasy be sustained?   Aloys delivers surprise after surprise for the audience.