This was one of the last Spanish films I saw last year. A comedy by filmmaker Javier Fesser with very funny characters and tragicomic stories.
Javier Fesser is a Spanish filmmaker with a particular style, his works are mostly emotional and funny. Each of his films is loaded with human emotions, which can make us cry or smile.
His previous films show what I mean. The Miracle of P. Tinto, the two films, one animated and the other with actors from Mortadelo and Filemon, were successful films that received the support of the public as well as entertaining products. It was with the movie Camino, where Fesser gets us into a drama based on a real story, telling the story of Nerea Camacho's character, a very religious girl, narrating the last five months of her life. The movie obtained six Goya awards, among them, the ones for best movie and best director, was a success. The story was inspired by the life of Alexia González Barrios, a young woman who died in the eighties, after spending several months fighting a malignant tumor.
But it was in 2018 when the filmmaker's name gained more recognition, with the release of the successful film Champions. A film that I liked very much and of which I made a review some time ago.
Champions has all of Fesser's cinema. Excitement and fun. In Champions we are told the story of a professional basketball coach, who is forced by a judge to coach a team made up of special people who are mentally retarded. The film was a success in Spain and many of its non-professional actors have continued to play small roles in both series and movies.
The message of the film is very beautiful and it is a call of attention, for all of us, who seem to forget that there are people who were born with some kind of problem. But they are like us, human beings, with intelligence and capable of many things. Champions received the Goya award for best film and it is a film that I recommend watching.
I will never forget the moving speech of the actor Jesús Vidal, when he received the Goya award for best newcomer actor.
Now, the filmmaker is premiering his latest movie at Amazon Studios, a comedy that reminds us of his origins and especially of his time making short films.
What is the plot?
There is not just one plot, they are different stories, one more fun than the others, but that both the stories and the characters are connected. They are stories of unfortunate, unhappy, bitter people with a pitiful life, but the fun increases in each of them. Each story is independent, but has those elements that make a global connection of the film.
For some viewers, the film may remind them of the Argentine film Relatos Salvajes , but it is only in the style of telling several independent stories. Besides, Relatos Salvajes was more unbridled, on the other hand, Historias Lamentables , has great moments that are on the edge of absurdity, but the characters are so funny and extraordinarily interpreted, that we will go from story to story, laughing with the humor that the filmmaker has impregnated the whole film.
The filmmaker seems to enjoy the misfortunes of these characters, while at the same time making us laugh with his stories of misfortunes and absurdities. The use of close-ups to make those faces look more grotesque are signs of this filmmaker's style. I find it amusing, and although one of his stories was a little long, in its final part it offers us a crazy climax, which will make us smile.
The first story takes place at a party, where the owner of the car oil empire is celebrating his retirement and his son, Ramon, heir to the company, will pay tribute to his father. In this first story, there is an element that will make the connection with others. This is the shortest and serves as a prologue to all that is to come.
The second story is that of the man on the beach, this is the story I love. We will meet Bermejo, an obsessive-compulsive man, who keeps everything in order and is methodical in everything in life. When he gets ready to go to the beach early in the morning to take a picture of the sunrise, something happens that interrupts all his plans and takes him on a crazy and fun trip. For me, the best of stories, because the character of Bermejo is incredible.
The third story, tells us about Ayoub, an African immigrant who goes from house to house offering to fix the gardens of the houses and earn some money, crosses the path of Tina, a woman a little crazy, with serious economic problems and who took advantage of Ayoub's kindness. A crazy story in which these two characters interact with a surprising ending.
The last story is that of Alipio, a businessman with serious gambling problems, who has pushed the company to the limit and his sisters think of removing him and taking control of the company, but the man, in a desperate measure, hires the services of a secret company that takes care of solving the problems of those who can pay their fees. A hilarious and absurd story, with a surprising twist in the plot. This was the one that seemed longest to me, but the ending is worth it.
Of course, the film has a scene that is the epilogue, with the appearance of a character from one of the other stories, closing in a perfect way everything that these unfortunate beings have lived, but that will make us have a good time.
The cast is fabulous in its characters. To make the levels of chaos and madness of each story fun, Fesser surrounds himself with a group of great actors.
The one who has earned all my admiration is the actor Chani Martin , playing Bermejo. I am fascinated by that ridiculous character he plays, obsessed with order, whose lifestyle will be altered when he tries to pass the street and get to the beach. The actor has a long career in Spanish cinema and television, and he gives the character of Bermejo the characteristics of a character taken from a cartoon. He is great!
Matías Janick, without any great previous work, plays Ayoud, the immigrant who meets a completely crazy woman, starting a crazy relationship, in the style of the comic couples of the old movies. I haven't seen his previous work as an actor, but in this film he does it very well.
The actress who stars in the story as Janick, is Laura Gomez-Lacueva playing Tina, the crazy woman, who takes advantage of every opportunity and uses her wit to take advantage of everything. The actress has a long career in the world of theater and has had great success playing this crazy character in the movie. From the first moment we see her, we know she is lying and crazy, but the comical situations between her and the character Ayoud, are very funny.
Alberto Castrillo-Ferrer is another actor who has focused his profession on the theater. In the film he plays Alipio, the desperate businessman, addicted to games, who with the company's bankruptcy, has to resort to a company that rescues people. The actor is phenomenal, making all the absurdity of his story credible. For me, he is also the most unfortunate character of all. There are two actors from the movie Champions, who have some small characters in the film, I will not say which ones, if you saw Champions, you will recognize them immediately. ( they appear in the trailer )
A comedy, with crazy and unfortunate characters, that made me laugh and made me have a very nice time. It was nominated for the Feroz award for best comedy, best script and best trailer. The receptivity of the Spanish audience has been good, especially from the followers of the filmmaker, who also wrote the script with Claro Garcia.
It is available at Amazon Studios and is a film that I recommend, especially to English speaking audiences, to watch Spanish movies and to have fun with these four absurd stories.
My Ranking: 3.4/5
Trailer (Spanish)
POSTER (Spanish)
