Basically, everybody in the world knows about the 27 club, right? Well, from the first moment I heard about them, I’d constantly listen to people saying how sad it was that they died so young and being so talented. To be honest, I always saw them as mature adults who had accomplished a lot. Even now that I’m 27, I can’t really see them as people of my age. I mean, leaving aside the fact that I haven’t really achieved as many things as they did, I think their deaths have turned them in such icons that it’s difficult to relate to them, even in something as simple as an age. That status of nearly divine figures hasn’t only sparked a wave of extreme fanaticism, but also countless theories trying to explain this strange phenomenon. These range from supernatural to political and religious conspiracies, which makes it really hard to believe why there aren’t many fictional stories delving into such an interesting subject.
However, a new movie that’s just been released this year proposes quite an uncanny yet comical hypothesis. Co-written and directed by the Argentinian filmmaker Nicanor Loreti, 27: el club de los malditos (or roughly translated into English as 27: The Club of the Damned) is a comical detective movie that centers in this very phenomenon. After a local punk musician throws himself from the window of a tall building and lands on the glass of a car, one of his most devoted fans, who happened to film the tragic end of this musician, starts wondering if there’s a relationship between his death at the age of 27 and the ones of these amazing legends belonging to the famous club. It all gets extra creepy after she and her friends are randomly kidnapped on the road by people who try to take the video from her phone.
Luckily, a renegade detective, who’s in charge of the musician’s case, is following Paula as a potential witness. After rescuing her and trying to continue with his investigation, Paula decides to trust this officer (who drinks rubbing alcohol mixed with Tang crystals) and tells him her theory regarding the death of these celebrities. Throughout the film, both characters will encounter many of these legendary figures, older of course, and get more involved in a dangerous conspiracy whose masterminds don’t care about killing anyone on their page.
Is this a masterpiece of cinematography? Of course, not. But what makes this movie so cool and great is the fact that they don’t care about taking things to the extreme, delivering an entertaining and extremely comical story that mocks all these theories that constantly appear. Moreover, with quite a good narrative, the movie puts you in the same position as these characters trying to decipher one of the most popular unsolved mysteries of our contemporary existence, giving you all the evidence for you to start making your own predictions. So, did these music legends coincidentally died at the same age? Were they assassinated for political reasons? Or are they still alive and were kidnapped or perhaps deliberately hiding from everything and everyone? Well, I won’t spoil you the movie. Instead, watch it, because it is an entertaining ride.
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Here’s more on the 27 club:
8 Songs To Better Understand The Melancholy That Killed Janis Joplin
Love Kills: The Story of Amy Winehouse
8 Love Lessons We Learned From The Lizard King, Jim Morrison
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