Muchos hijos, un mono y un castillo

It's a documentary shot by the son of the main character and everything looks surreal and real at the same time. Never laughed like this on a movie theater

Gustavo salmerón is an actor and writer. He decided to film the story of his eccentric family in spain. It starts with a (long) discussion about how their ancestors were killed by the river and buried there. Then a discussion over whether or not mama is a hoarder. Clearly she is. Much time spent talking about the wars and how she and her family were part of the Falangist party, rejecting franco and his rule. They did buy a castle, but lost it. And they even had the monkey, until it got mean. Moving out of the castle, will they ever find the boxes of bones of the ancestors? Will grandma find peace? Interesting stuff. Or maybe the whole thing was scripted. Although there are some neato home family movies at the very end! Directed by gustavo salmerón.

Even though the subject isn't really documentary material I have to admit I enjoyed watching Muchos Hijos, Un Mono Y Un Castillo (A Lot Of Kids, A Monkey And A Castle for the English title). It's basically reality-tv, normally a thing I don't like at all, but since the whole family just tells their story without really wanting to be in a documentary it feels genuine. And even though the past of the family is definitely right wing, it doesn't show in their language, some kids didn't even know about that past. The documentary is funny, mostly because of the hoarding problem and the search for vertebrae of one of the deceased family member, and because of the language and their opinion about daily things or more important life issues like death. It could also be a lesson on how to avoid going bankrupt after being rich suddenly. It's all lighthearted but funny to watch.

This is a real little gem of a film! I laughed so much in the theatre. Not only was it absolutely hilarious, but it was also moving and contained so much humanity. I loved it and just wanted to give Julita a big, big hug at the end of the film.

This is the kind of story any good director want to achieve on their filmography. The characters are amazing, this movie describe the last century of Spain's history through the real life.