End of the Century

A love story with a time shift twist - just confusing enough to make it interesting, intriguing and thought provoking. Updated version of "Sliding Doors" as it explores what could have been Warm and entertaining, well acted in a relaxed, believable way.

Lovely shots of Barcelona too.

This wonderful film unwinds backward and forward to tell about a relationship between two men and the people around them. Time twists and turns as what seemed real at the time fades from memory then re-emerges in present time. A little hard to write about. You have to see it to take it all in. I have seen it more than a few times and did not get tired of watching. The cast is wonderful and the chemisty between the men is right at ever turn. Hot or cool or in between. The photography is part of the cast and plays an important role. Barcelona. Gorgeous. OK. Go see it. Write your own review.

How would your life be different if you took a different relationship path? That's what gets explored in this poignant film.

The director and cinematographer use long, beautiful (and mostly silent) visual narratives to create a sense of isolation for the main character who has recently ended a 20 year relationship.

Using flashback/flashforward scenes, the film explores what happens when two men meet again after a hook up that took place 20 years prior.

It would be easy to criticize this first full-feature directorial effort. Not everything in this movie succeeds by a long-shot. The criticism that it's too slow and boring certainly applies to the first 15-20 minutes. It's rare when an 84-minute film should be cut by at least 5-7.

But the criticism that this is a "gay movie" is TOTALLY off-base. What makes this film worth watching is the enigmatic, non-linear story about love, partnership, loneliness, and the passage of time. The fact that the two principals are gay is actually irrelevant to who they are as people, and what "Ocho," the main character, is looking for.

Whether you leave the theater thinking wondering what is the true story (I must say no more), or thinking that it's all just a metaphor, the film is ultimately thought-provoking. After seeing a preview, my wife and I discussed it all through lunch and well beyond.

Do you think a one-night stand can become the kind of true love we all need to build a life together, even start your own family? That is what "End of The Century" (probably) is about. We are here faced with a bizzarre, interesting and brave narrative choice - the film maker introduces us to the two main characters by some sort of imbalance between past, present and future. The challenge is certainly bold, the viewer has to keep up with the continuous timeline change, but this is what makes the movie intriguing and appreciable. The idea is to turn the emerging love story of these two guys into a whole path of life, made with fading memories of what it was, uncertainties of what it will be, and a brisk concreteness of contemporary living. The two characters are well-defined, their lives converge and diverge during these different story arcs, and the whole plot can be considered cute, simple but wacky. Notwithstanding the appearance and facial features of the two guys seem not so suffer from the flowing of time (at all), we find an average result in our hands - a movie that is nice, unpretentious, genuine and quite pleasant to watch.