Here’s a sordid little teen-in-trouble tease from Spain that promises threats, sex and violence presented in the most melodramatic situations possible in assorted posh settings decorated by overdressed members of the upper class and underclass.
“Bad Influence” is about a teen ballerina who is being stalked — at home, at school and in the concert hall, and her rich father’s wildly unconventional and nonsensical solution to that.
Dad (Enrique Arce) goes to prison and wrangles early release for a troubled young man he wants to to be his daughter’s bodyguard.
Yeah, it could happen. “Troubled?” Maybe giving the kid the name “Eros” (Alberto Olmo) wasn’t the safest guarantee for an easy life.
Eros is to watch over young Reese (Eléa Rochera), and his lunging save when a stage light almost falls on her should seal that deal.
But she’s underwhelmed and he’s not all that enthusiastic. And as is the way of cute teen thrillers of this ilk, there’s a whole flamenco around the mutual attraction that gets in the way of “The Bodyguard” performing duties he is in no way qualified to carry out.
At least they can bond over a “Doctor Jones” sing-along in her daddy’s Jeep.
Reese is getting online threats and real-world suggestions of exposure to peril. Her bullying rich pretty-boy ex, Raúl (Fernando Fraga) is the leading candidate. His racist “Jesus Looked Like Me” t-shirt is our first clue.
Maybe the posh private school that Eros has to enroll in and (we assume) audit classes in French philosophy is a tell, too. The screenwriter/director names it “St. Plath.” I kid you not.
It’s never the most obvious villain, so does the Sylvia Plath reference give anything away? Might the dad be staging these threats himself in a pervy, possessive bit of acting out? Could one of Reese’s friends — voraciously bisexual Lily (Sara Ariño) — have it in for her?
Could Reese be managing these menacing messages herself? How about Eros’s orphan “family”– the overdressed/underdressed and underemployed sexpot Peyton (Mirela Balic) or on-the-make hustler Diego (Farid Bechara)? Revenge on “our annoying bosses of the future” class?
The film pays about as much attention to the mystery as it does to Reese’s supposedly promising ballet career (check out that EDITING). At least the scenery (Valencia and environs) is striking, what little we see of it.
The heat between our young Spanish Alexander Skarsgård look-alike and the Spanish daughter Gemma Arterton never knew she birthed is palpable but teased out in the most predictable ways. That coy, carnal attraction has to do the heavy lifting in a movie with limited incidents, threats and “action.”
Because the resolution and finale co-writer/director Chloé Wallace cooks up looks more Latin American Spanish than European Spanish. It’s straight out of a telenovela.
Rating: TV-MA, violence, sex, nudity, smoking, profanity
Cast: Alberto Olmo, Eléa Rochera, Mirela Balic, Sara Ariño and Enrique Arce.
Credits: Directed by Chloé Wallace, scripted by Chloé Wallace and Diane Muro. A Netflix release.
Running time: 1:46




