Gaudi Afternoon

Wonderfully, funny satire of gender bending with only a few slow parts when the screenwriter forgets we don't really need any serious moralizing in this kind of film.

Our plot has Judy Davis, as Cassandra, a sort of almost middle aged, expatriot writer living in Spain trying to finish her novel. She is hired by Frankie, a very sexy deserted wife, to track down her missing daughter because of her bilingual skills.

Things aren't exactly what they seem and we find that Frankie is actually the transsexual father of the missing child who is now living with her natural mother Ben, a lesbian, who is engaged in a 'menage a trois' with her bisexual lover Hamilton and 'their lover' April, wonderfully played by Juliette Lewis.

The confusion makes for some very funny lines that are so well played that the situation seems almost natural. The screenwriter goes somewhat adrift later on with some totally unnecessary reflections by Cassandra, who apparently has sexual identity problems of her own, but the film as a whole is just wonderfully refreshing when compared to most of today's "statement" films. Good soundtrack too.

I was curious to see this film because of Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden being in it. I was surprised, then, to see Lili Taylor and Juliette Lewis as well. The acting was admirable on all accounts and Judy Davis played a tough and curious literary woman translator that Davis was able to make likable despite the character being repressed and brittle.

The story worked up until near the end when things got a little ludicrous concerning people meeting up and then the child disappearing and it seemed weirdly frantic at some points. For the most part it was an enjoyable film with surprises now and then. I was quite surprised to learn after I looked up some information later about this film that it was directed by Susan Seidelman as I've liked her work in the past. It's good to know she still has a flair for creating films about women who are put in situations where they begin to questions their lives so far and the decisions they've made.

A pleasant Spanish comedy plenty of humor , amusement , emotion , twists and mayhem . It deals with a sympathetic translator called Cassandra (Judy Davis) who becomes involved into problems with a strange as well as outlandish group of American/Spanish people in Barcelona . Cassandra gets a call for help from a rare woman named Frankie (Marcia Gay Harden) who wishes she to encounter her hubby , so he can sign some important documents . Alone in a foreign city, Cassandra must resolve a family's darkest with unexpected consequences . Nothing Frankie says is true : the hubby results out to be a woman and the issue isn't legal documents but a child's custody . But Cassandra keeps at it , at first to earn her promised fee, and then to help stranger Frankie, then Frankie's ex, then the child . As her situation goes from bad to worse when she attempts to find out troubles . Along the way, this unusual woman frees herself to terminate a novel and re-establish a broken relationship.

Agreeable comedy full of good feeling , offbeat characters , haunting mood-pieces , fun scenes , a brief intrigue and sense of style but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls . Director Susan Seidelman returns to top form , with an intelligent and engaging script which uses amusing situations to give us an attractive comedy in a high sense and that kept me entertained for the almost 97 minutes runtime . Some situations are laugh out loud ridiculous and the story proceeds at a breakneck speed that never flags . The flick realized in Pedro Almodovar style was criticized by the notorious ¨Saturday Star¨ as : ¨a clever story , a brilliant cast , dazzling production design .. in short , a feat ¨. Nice though overacting by Judy Davis as Cassandra, a solitary as well as somewhat disconnected and bewildered writer in Barcelona , she has to find out the deepest secrets of an offbeat family before she can confront her own past . The main and support cast is pretty good such as the stylish Marcia Gay Harden , the tomboy Lili Taylor as Ben , Juliette Lewis as April , the showman Christopher Bowen as Hamilton , and the Spanish María Barranco , Pedro Almodavar's ordinary actress . It was funny, great actors and atmospheric soundtrack composed by recently deceased Bernando Bonezzi .

Colorful cinematography by Josep M. Civit showing splendidly the Barcelona scenarios , where is set the whole film . Josep M Civit is one of the best Spanish cameramen as he has demonstrated in "The Hidden Face" , ¨Shiver¨, ¨Warriors¨ , ¨The Absent" , ¨Asphalt¨ , ¨Anguish¨ and many others . The picture shows a large sightseeing from Barcelona such as La Pedrera , Casa Mila , Casa Calvet, Casa Batllo, Park Guell, The Palau Güell, Sagrada Familia, Cathedral, Ciutadella , and usual streets and slums , among others . The motion picture produced by great producer Andres Vicente Gomez was well directed by Susan Seidelman , though he overdoes the same premise . Susan Seidelman is an expert on comedies , she is a director and producer, especially known for Smithereens , She-devil , Making Mr. Right , Confessions of a Suburban Girl , Cookie , The Hot Flashes and his greatest hit ¨Desperately seeking Susan¨.

From the opening credits, a marvelous montage of organic elements rendered in a very Gaudi-esque style, I had a sense that this would be a quirky and fun film. I was not disappointed. If you have ever lived as an expatriate, you will immediately identify with the Judy Davis character. The terrific soundtrack captures the lure of Catalonia, especially the signature tune, "Sway (Quien Sera)" written by Norman Gimbel and Pablo Beltran Ruiz and sung by Dean Martin.

There is no nudity or sex in this film and the fact that the characters aren't hetero is only a plot device and is not otherwise significant. Surprisingly, Juliette Lewis is the weakest performer of the entire cast. Extremely enjoyable!

What a wonderful film! Whoever's responsible for assembling cast should get an award for casting. Taylor, Davis, Lewis and Harden are four of the most interesting actors to watch on screen. The story is brilliant. It is an honest, thoughtful and unapologetic look at motherhood, gender and intimate relationships. Juliette Lewis gives the best performance she's ever given in the role of April (a character unlike any she's ever played). Lili Taylor is sincerely brilliant and intense as usual. Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden are hilarious. Even the city of Barcelona and the architecture of the artist Gaudi are characters in this film. I am not familiar with this director's other work but her vision is very seductive. The camera angles, her use of color and the pace at which the film ebbs and flows is the reason I love cinema so much. The little girl who plays Delihah (Courtney Jines) is a total treat. She's smart but she's still childlike. She's complex without sounding a kid reading 'adult' lines. I reccommend this film whole-heartedly.