Alcarràs

The only positives were the amazing performances of children, teenagers, and the very old in the film. It deserved an acting ensemble prize at best. Carla Simon deserves praise for extracting realistic performances. Little else. The script was predictable on change in values that are influenced by pecuniary factors. The crane removing an old car which later removes fruit trees was too contrived for the script. Was it, as the ultimate Golden Bear winner, more deserving than the Grand Prize of the Jury winner, from Korea, Hong Sang Soo's film "The Novelist's Film"? I don't think so. M. Night Shyamalan and his jury that he headed got it wrong, in my view.

Yesterday I went to the theater with my girlfriend to watch this film which I didn't know anything about. And from the very beginning I was surprised with the quality of it. Everything was masterfully done. The set, the camera angles, the performances, the characters, the dialogues, the plot... All was highly realistic and beautiful at the same time. 100% recommended.

Reallistic depiction of rural life that shows both the heartwarming and the harsh living conditions of farmers. Weren't it actually scripted, it would have totally worked as a documentary piece.

The movie can get long at times. It seems to lose focus and detour from the main plot at times, bringing smaller scenes, that help you empathise with the family, but contribute few or nothing to the actual development of the story.

The movie brings some food for thought as you see a way of life that is threatened by modern technology, and the push from the rural life to urban life.

The work of the non professional actors is excellent, and shows how much effort was put in making this film work and strive for excellence.

While the movie is a few steps away from being a masterpiece, it is still a mandatory watch.

See the emotional perspectives of a family owned apple farm and realize the absolute beauty of mundanity and ordinarity in such lives. The work, play, tradition and love being portrayed is done masterfully through calm and strong integrity. It is not often one stumbles across a film so well-crafted with a clear sense of motivation and devotion. I personally really liked this one.

Each character is represented as they are, in regard to themselves, their environment and who they represent. The subtility of the distractions one faces as uncertainty slowly corrupts parts of their lives and how they live as a result.

The one rave scene was tastefully portrayed and I'm happy to see some hakken.

A very personal european family drama that unleashed inside of me an incredibly heart-warming feeling of nostalgia that draw a smile on my face ear to ear for multiple times during the movie.

It's a very quiet movie, you can almost feel every sound of nature during the lines of dialogue, and when no-one is speaking you hear the birds chirping, the peaches falling from the trees and the children laughing and running around the house.

More than a movie experience this feels like you're put inside their family situations and there's some little cute moments where you can't do nothing but feel joy when you know you've already been in the exact same spot - right there picking up figs from the tree with your grandfather.

Its simplistic hangout movie format truly does a lot in favor of the almost documentarian final result and the sincere, raw and honest performances are the cherry on top of this very fluffy peach cake that Alcarràs is. A giant heads up for the child actors. I didn't believe for a single second that they were acting, it really felt like they were just living their lives and having fun.

Besides that Carla Simón's latest project also serves as a subtle critique to the current state of the agricultural industry in spain and the underpayment of the house-farm workers due to the big companies that monopolize the market.

I really appreciated Alcarràs for staying truthful to what it proposed to be - a beautiful and somewhat tragic story of a family that managed to hang toghether through their roughest times.