Released: 2004
Director: Alejandro Almenábar
Cast: Javier Bardem; Belén Rueda; Lola Dueñas;
The back of the DVD box says this film, “...celebrates the nature of freedom and love, and the mystery and beauty of life.” Well, I've certainly read worse blurbs; at least this one seems to have been written by somebody who's actually watched the film. But while I agree with the description, I'd have to add another word: pride. And in Spain, it's not a big step from pride to machismo. Still, more on that later. First, some context.
According to IMDB, Mar Adentro won 61 awards around the world (and of course, was nominated for even more). Perhaps most famously, it won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film but more impressive is the board-sweeping that took place at the Goyas: 14 awards, including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematography, you name it. So, quite highly thought of then, but what's it about?
The film is based on the true story of Ramón Sampedro, a Galician who spent almost 30 years fighting for the right to die after an accident left him paralysed from the neck down. We meet Ramón when he's in his fifties, long-used to the inevitable limitations of his situation and – in all practical ways – adapted to it. However, Ramón is adamant that for him this is no life worth living and he rationally, clearly and relentlessly argues and demands his right to die with dignity. He's aided by Gené, from a euthanasia lobbying group; Julia, a lawyer with a personal interest in the issues; Rosa, a local woman who is drawn to his plight; and his elder brother's family, with whom he lives and who are his primary carers.
The film focuses on Ramón's relationship with Julia and Rosa both of whom are attracted to him in different ways and for different reasons. As these relationships play out simultaneously we see what sort of man Ramón is. Given the film's subject, journey's end is fairly inevitable but it's the route taken that draws us in without mercy.
Ramón is a man who still loves life, but not the one he's got. He's made a firm decision that he will not accept the fragments of the existence left to him. This decision is ruthlessly adhered to by suppressing all memory of his past self and also any possibility of fulfilment in the present. The consequence is that he finds it difficult to take any happiness that may be offered him. This is where the pride comes in: Ramón is proud enough not to settle for less having once lived life to the full. His pride enables him to live (and die) with dignity despite everything. However, that same pride has prevented him from fully accepting any moments of joy, happiness, triumph, etc. along the way. He may have enjoyed them at the time, but he then boxes them away, never to be reopened lest they undermine his resolve. We see instances when Julia and Rosa's presence in his life enable Ramón to acknowledge that life can be precious, under any circumstances, but he never truly wavers.
Meanwhile, all around him are people who love, support and care for him (each in their own way) and yet who all have their own personal agendas, conscious or no. Whether it's his brother's moral resentment, his sister-in-law's maternal possessiveness, his nephew's need for a better father figure or Ramón's own father's dementia-fuelled denial, they all demonstrate utterly real responses to the responsibility that they cannot shirk.
Ultimately, Ramón is a charismatic and likeable protagonist and we, the audience are sucked into the moral dilemma. Namely, that we like him, we admire him and we want him to succeed but for Ramón, success means killing himself, so by wishing him well we are also wishing him dead.
A tightly-written, brilliantly-acted (the whole cast is superb and Bardem has possibly never looked more convincing) drama of human frailty and determination centred on a huge moral question. A question, by the way, to which Mar Adentro is unafraid to give a clear answer.
P.S. What is it with these translated titles? Yes, “mar” means “sea” and “adentro” means “inside”, but the phrase “mar adentro” actually translates as “out at sea” which – I beg to suggest – is symbolically quite different.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Thursday 11 March 2010
"Boca a Boca" - "Mouth to Mouth"
Released: 1995
Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira
Cast: Javier Bardem; Aitana Sánchez Gijón; Josep Maria Flotats
Years before he made it big in Hollywood in films such as No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Javier Bardem was making great films in Spain. He was arrogant in Jamon Jamon, he brooded in Huevos de Oro and yet Boca a Boca might be his most unusual performance. Unusual mainly because it's a light madcap comedy and Bardem hasn't done (m)any of those since. Yes, I know Vicky Cristina Barcelona was meant to be funny but what can I say, I didn't laugh much. I enjoyed it but I didn't laugh much.
In Boca a Boca, Bardem plays Victor Ventura, a drama school reject from Cartagena in Murcia who's come to the big city (Madrid, I presumed) to make it as an actor. The Murcian accent is apparently seen as a bit comical in some parts of Spain so that automatically gives the character a touch of the naive provincial. Victor makes a living as a pizza delivery guy while auditioning badly, hoping for his big break. Unfortunately the break comes with the promise of an audition for an American movie in three weeks' time just as Victor loses his job and has to pack up and go home. Desperate for one last (big) chance, Victor takes a job as a phone sex worker. Most of his clients are men, but when a woman does call he ends up falling for her and agreeing to take part in a honey trap so she can divorce her closeted gay husband (one of Victor's other clients). The seduction, of course, has to take place on the same evening that Victor is to meet the American director and from then on the film is whirl of changing identities, hitmen, plots within plots and auditions.
The film is worth seeing because the story is good, the twists are unexpected, it's well-acted, it's funny and so on. However, given his later career, there's also a lot of pleasure to be got from just seeing Javier Bardem as you've never seen him before. For a start, there's the haircut, a sort of terrible pageboy type 'do last seen on Joey in early Friends. Then there's the spectacle of his acting class prancing while singing “Make 'Em Laugh” at an audition. And finally, if only because Hollywood would never do it, there's Bardem in comically convincing gay phone sex.
About two-thirds of the way through it did start to remind me of early Almodóvar, although that comparison isn't intended to be invidious. In fact, if you've watched all of Pedro's early works and wish that he'd done more like that, watch Boca a Boca – it's a bit of a treat.
(It's only available on Region 1 DVD, but it is cheap and more and more, I'm convinced that if you want to see anything other than the mainstream Spanish releases in the UK then you need that multi-region DVD player.)
Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira
Cast: Javier Bardem; Aitana Sánchez Gijón; Josep Maria Flotats
Years before he made it big in Hollywood in films such as No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Javier Bardem was making great films in Spain. He was arrogant in Jamon Jamon, he brooded in Huevos de Oro and yet Boca a Boca might be his most unusual performance. Unusual mainly because it's a light madcap comedy and Bardem hasn't done (m)any of those since. Yes, I know Vicky Cristina Barcelona was meant to be funny but what can I say, I didn't laugh much. I enjoyed it but I didn't laugh much.
In Boca a Boca, Bardem plays Victor Ventura, a drama school reject from Cartagena in Murcia who's come to the big city (Madrid, I presumed) to make it as an actor. The Murcian accent is apparently seen as a bit comical in some parts of Spain so that automatically gives the character a touch of the naive provincial. Victor makes a living as a pizza delivery guy while auditioning badly, hoping for his big break. Unfortunately the break comes with the promise of an audition for an American movie in three weeks' time just as Victor loses his job and has to pack up and go home. Desperate for one last (big) chance, Victor takes a job as a phone sex worker. Most of his clients are men, but when a woman does call he ends up falling for her and agreeing to take part in a honey trap so she can divorce her closeted gay husband (one of Victor's other clients). The seduction, of course, has to take place on the same evening that Victor is to meet the American director and from then on the film is whirl of changing identities, hitmen, plots within plots and auditions.
The film is worth seeing because the story is good, the twists are unexpected, it's well-acted, it's funny and so on. However, given his later career, there's also a lot of pleasure to be got from just seeing Javier Bardem as you've never seen him before. For a start, there's the haircut, a sort of terrible pageboy type 'do last seen on Joey in early Friends. Then there's the spectacle of his acting class prancing while singing “Make 'Em Laugh” at an audition. And finally, if only because Hollywood would never do it, there's Bardem in comically convincing gay phone sex.
About two-thirds of the way through it did start to remind me of early Almodóvar, although that comparison isn't intended to be invidious. In fact, if you've watched all of Pedro's early works and wish that he'd done more like that, watch Boca a Boca – it's a bit of a treat.
(It's only available on Region 1 DVD, but it is cheap and more and more, I'm convinced that if you want to see anything other than the mainstream Spanish releases in the UK then you need that multi-region DVD player.)
Tuesday 9 March 2010
"Spanish Movie" - spoof
I've only just heard about this, but Fox have produced/backed another in their parody series (Scary Movie, Date Movie, Superhero Movie) but the latest is poking fun at contemporary Spanish cinema. And it's completely Spanish-made.
Now I don't usually bother with this sort of stuff, partly because after Airplane and Naked Gun the laughs are usually outweighed by the frathouse goonishness; and partly because I'm rarely familiar enough with the movies being spoofed to get half the jokes. But this time it's Spanish!
Apparently the films they're taking off are:
Here's the trailer. (No subtitles but I just know you'll manage.)
I must admit that I like the bit with the Tomás character from El Orfanato.
Released in Spain last December, apparently it did well at the box office and has been sold to various countries but not yet, unfortunately, to the UK. Maybe we'll have to wait for the DVD release.
Now I don't usually bother with this sort of stuff, partly because after Airplane and Naked Gun the laughs are usually outweighed by the frathouse goonishness; and partly because I'm rarely familiar enough with the movies being spoofed to get half the jokes. But this time it's Spanish!
Apparently the films they're taking off are:
- Volver
- El Orfanato (The Orphanage)
- El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)
- Los Otros (The Others)
- [REC]
- Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes; remade as Vanilla Sky)
Here's the trailer. (No subtitles but I just know you'll manage.)
I must admit that I like the bit with the Tomás character from El Orfanato.
Released in Spain last December, apparently it did well at the box office and has been sold to various countries but not yet, unfortunately, to the UK. Maybe we'll have to wait for the DVD release.
Sunday 7 March 2010
"Te Doy Mis Ojos" - "Take My Eyes"
Released: 2003
Director: Icíar Bollain
Cast: Laia Marull, Luis Tosar, Candela Peña, Rosa María Sardá,
If your view of Spanish cinema goes no further than Almodóvar's early kitsch surrealism or del Toro's dark fairy tales then Te Doy Mis Ojos could be just the film to broaden your horizons. Be warned though, you won't laugh much.
We found this in the bargain bin in Carrefour in Cartagena (I say “we”, it was actually my wife, Amanda.) The attraction was that the director and actors all appeared to be unfamiliar at the time. Since then, we have seen them all in other films; in fact the male lead, Luis Tosar, was a police officer in Sin Noticias de Dios about which I posted last week (blink and you'll miss him – I did.) The director, Icíar Bollain, is currently working on the next Gael García Bernal movie, Tambien la Lluvia in Bolivia. In 2004, Te Doy Mis Ojos took seven Goyas, including best movie, director, actor and actress.
So, pedigree established, what's it all about?. It begins with Pilar, played by Laia Marull, rushing from room to room in an apartment, gathering up her sleepy young son and generally looking frightened and urgent. She goes to her sister's home and it soon becomes apparent that she is fleeing her abusive husband, Antonio who attempts to 'woo' her back with a predictable mix of entreaties, promises, instructions and anger. We have the will-she-won't-she return to him all played out against the backdrop of her attempts to build a life of her own and also her sister's impending marriage to a charming Scot who is attentive, does the washing up, is good with kids, etc. (the film addresses Spanish stereotypes, not Scottish ones.) In other words, all the women in the film think he's marvellous; the men don't. The tension begins in that first scene and doesn't let up. There is a sense of danger throughout; whenever Antonio is on screen we are just waiting for him to erupt into violence. And we are kept waiting.
What makes the film stand out is its completely unflinching look at domestic violence that examines both sides of the equation. By the end, we understand both Pilar and Antonio; what has led them to where they are and the choices that they ultimately make. With Pilar it's the influence of family history; her sister is escaping but Pilar feels doomed to repeat her mother's martyrdom unless she can find a way out. Also how an intense physical attraction can overcome all common sense. Antonio's family also appear to have shaped him (don't they always?) particularly his total lack of self-esteem. He also suffers from a therapist whose 'light touch' approach is unlikely to help Antonio triumph in his battle with his anger.
The acting, especially from Laia Marull, is raw and convincing; there's no Hollywood-style looking sexy while she's acting scared here; she genuinely looks out-of-control terrified when Antonio is on the edge. She knows that she could die at his hands.
Spain is an interesting backdrop for this story with it's stereotype of machismo misogyny and I can't help but think that the director is making some sort of commentary here. The men's therapy group paints a very bleak picture of a certain type of Spanish man and Pilar's plight seems, at times, quite hopeless. Interesting that her sister, who is much more free/liberated/happy in her relationship, has had to marry a foreigner.
At the end, there are no triumphs, no real happy-ending winners. But there is resolution of a sort that is entirely appropriate to a film that aims for realism.
Director: Icíar Bollain
Cast: Laia Marull, Luis Tosar, Candela Peña, Rosa María Sardá,
If your view of Spanish cinema goes no further than Almodóvar's early kitsch surrealism or del Toro's dark fairy tales then Te Doy Mis Ojos could be just the film to broaden your horizons. Be warned though, you won't laugh much.
We found this in the bargain bin in Carrefour in Cartagena (I say “we”, it was actually my wife, Amanda.) The attraction was that the director and actors all appeared to be unfamiliar at the time. Since then, we have seen them all in other films; in fact the male lead, Luis Tosar, was a police officer in Sin Noticias de Dios about which I posted last week (blink and you'll miss him – I did.) The director, Icíar Bollain, is currently working on the next Gael García Bernal movie, Tambien la Lluvia in Bolivia. In 2004, Te Doy Mis Ojos took seven Goyas, including best movie, director, actor and actress.
So, pedigree established, what's it all about?. It begins with Pilar, played by Laia Marull, rushing from room to room in an apartment, gathering up her sleepy young son and generally looking frightened and urgent. She goes to her sister's home and it soon becomes apparent that she is fleeing her abusive husband, Antonio who attempts to 'woo' her back with a predictable mix of entreaties, promises, instructions and anger. We have the will-she-won't-she return to him all played out against the backdrop of her attempts to build a life of her own and also her sister's impending marriage to a charming Scot who is attentive, does the washing up, is good with kids, etc. (the film addresses Spanish stereotypes, not Scottish ones.) In other words, all the women in the film think he's marvellous; the men don't. The tension begins in that first scene and doesn't let up. There is a sense of danger throughout; whenever Antonio is on screen we are just waiting for him to erupt into violence. And we are kept waiting.
What makes the film stand out is its completely unflinching look at domestic violence that examines both sides of the equation. By the end, we understand both Pilar and Antonio; what has led them to where they are and the choices that they ultimately make. With Pilar it's the influence of family history; her sister is escaping but Pilar feels doomed to repeat her mother's martyrdom unless she can find a way out. Also how an intense physical attraction can overcome all common sense. Antonio's family also appear to have shaped him (don't they always?) particularly his total lack of self-esteem. He also suffers from a therapist whose 'light touch' approach is unlikely to help Antonio triumph in his battle with his anger.
The acting, especially from Laia Marull, is raw and convincing; there's no Hollywood-style looking sexy while she's acting scared here; she genuinely looks out-of-control terrified when Antonio is on the edge. She knows that she could die at his hands.
Spain is an interesting backdrop for this story with it's stereotype of machismo misogyny and I can't help but think that the director is making some sort of commentary here. The men's therapy group paints a very bleak picture of a certain type of Spanish man and Pilar's plight seems, at times, quite hopeless. Interesting that her sister, who is much more free/liberated/happy in her relationship, has had to marry a foreigner.
At the end, there are no triumphs, no real happy-ending winners. But there is resolution of a sort that is entirely appropriate to a film that aims for realism.
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