A Prisoner Has Escaped: A bit dusty, but strangely magnetic

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for grainy, old-school dramas that feel like they were filmed in someone’s living room, then yeah, sure, give it a whirl. But if you need modern pacing or a plot that doesn't wander off into the weeds, skip this one. It's definitely not going to be for the action crowd.

Ricardo Núñez is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. You can tell he’s trying to sell the desperation, even when the script is just throwing him into scenes that feel like filler. It’s like watching a guy try to run through mud.

Odd little moments

There is this one scene near the middle where the silence just hangs there. Like, way too long. The characters are just staring at a wall or a window, and I actually checked my phone to see if the video had buffered. It hadn't. That’s just the movie, I guess.

The pacing is all over the place. It’s got that weird, jerky rhythm where everything happens at once and then nothing happens for twenty minutes. It’s almost baffling.

It reminded me a bit of the aimless energy in The Little Wanderer, but with more shouting. Not that the shouting helps, really.

• The lighting is surprisingly moody for what I assume was a tiny budget.
• The dialogue feels like it was translated twice before hitting the screen.
• Someone clearly forgot to tell the extras they were supposed to be reacting to the jailbreak.

I can’t help but think about how A Prisoner Has Escaped tries to be a heavy drama about freedom, but it ends up feeling more like a stage play that got lost on its way to a theater. There’s a scene involving a gate that takes so long to open, I think I aged a year just watching it.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it better than watching Nutty Notes on loop? Absolutely. It’s got that specific, imperfect grit that makes you feel like you’re digging through someone’s attic. Just don't go in expecting it to change your life. 🎞️