Arroz y tartana

This excellent mini-series portrays the Valencian society of the late 19th century and early 20th century. "Arroz y tartana" is technically outstanding, specially concerning art direction, costume design and music. Although Escrivá is no Scorsese, I was often reminded of a personal favorite, "The Age of Innocence", a picture that shares many of its main topics with "Arroz y tartana".

Carmen Maura is simply at her best as Manuela de Fora, a widow who has known better times and now struggles to keep up appearances in order to marry her daughters well. Maura shows that she is our greatest living actress, providing a luminous and charming performance in virtually every scene of the mini-series. The supporting cast also includes nice performances from José Sancho and Eloy Azorín to name just a couple of the members of the outstanding cast.

Overall rating: 8/10