Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Nobody Knows I’m Here’ on Netflix, a Chilean Drama Starring Jorge Garcia as a Singer Trapped in a Sad Dream

Netflix movie Nobody Knows I’m Here puts Jorge Garcia of Lost fame in the spotlight, playing a character who was forced from the spotlight. He headlines this Chilean drama by first-time director Gaspar Antillo, and is so good, it raises the question as to why his career has been so quiet since the TV series that made him famous concluded a decade ago.

NOBODY KNOWS I’M HERE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Memo (Garcia) is a mostly silent mountain of a man. He’s a shepherd on an isolated island, where he lives with his uncle Braulio (Luis Gnecco). They chop wood, process sheepskin, receive goods via boat deliveries and generally exist off the grid without TV or internet in a dimly lit house, listening to opera music while they eat dinner. Then Memo hides in his room, puts on a heavily sequined cape, dons sparkly nail polish and fantasizes elaborately about singing in a glorious bath of neon-red lights.

Flashback: Young Memo (Lukas Vergara) has a stunning singing voice. While he belts out a song titled “Nobody Knows I’m Here” in a vocal booth, a showbiz honcho tells his father that Memo sings like a star, but doesn’t look like one. “I’ll take care of finding it a body,” the man says of Memo’s voice, and another youngster is hired to lip-sync and look good for the cameras. Clearly, the adult Memo’s extreme antisocial behavior and tendency for violent outbursts is tied to this upsetting development. Those unfamiliar with his past wonder if he’s autistic.

Disaster strikes when Braulio severely injures himself while repairing a motor. Memo brings him to the mainland, and when a crowd of people rush to help the bleeding man, Memo immediately hops back into the boat and buzzes home. Marta (Millaray Lobos) begins delivering sheepskins to Memo, and senses the gentle soul inside the hostile beast. She tries to pry him open a little. She succeeds. He sings. And everything changes. But is it for the better?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Nobody Knows I’m Here is a modern Beauty and the Beast crossed with A Star is Born if it was about Susan Boyle instead of Judy Garland (or Lady Gaga, I guess).

Performance Worth Watching: The film hinges on Garcia, who manages to find the silent river that runs deep in a character written mostly as a grab-bag of idiosyncrasies.

Memorable Dialogue: “I’m… a gazelle,” Memo says to Braulio during a rare display of humor

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Andillo plies Nobody Knows I’m Here with long, still shots, many of them gorgeous and thoughtful compositions of the island’s wilderness. You sense Memo’s feeling of protective insularity in the setting, fragile as it might be — so fragile, all it takes is one smartphone video to shatter it. (And somewhere in here lurks a classical technology vs. nature metaphor.)

The director also indulges several surrealist moments that sneak up on us, blending fantasy and reality and giving the film ambiguity and depth. It’s obvious Memo needs to confront what traumatized him, but it’s difficult to discern whether he’ll be happier after the fact. It says something that Marta reaches out to him, and he doesn’t shut her out; whether he can achieve some sense of closure remains cloudy. I’ll forever argue that true closure is a fallacy — people don’t solve problems, they manage them — and the film’s unwillingness to tidily mop up Memo’s psychological conundrum is to its benefit.

It’s the screenplay, however that’s the movie’s weak point. Marta is too slight of character, plot reveals are hackneyed, flashbacks to Memo’s childhood are overwrought. Third-act developments stretch plausibility ever so slightly, and a key figure from Memo’s past arrives to stir predictable demons. The film hinges on a penultimate sequence that shifts from unconvincing to utterly beautiful — a risk that doesn’t quite work, but at least it’s a risk, Andillo opting for suggestiveness over spurious clarity.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Nobody Knows I’m Here isn’t perfect, but it is provocative, and Garcia proves himself capable of anchoring a solid picture.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Nobody Knows I'm Here on Netflix