La soledad

The daily lives of a young single mother who just moved to Madrid from her native village and a widowed mother of three grown-up daughters. Through Adela (Sonia Almarcha) and Antonia's (Petra Martínez) lives, we have a glimpse of those brief moments of joy and sorrow common to anyone who lives in a big city. The movie is structured in four episodes ("Antonia and Adela", "The City", "The firm ground", "The background noise") and eventually an epilogue.

A weird , messy and tiring film , being carrried out by means of a disjoined realization in various disordered episodes . However, being a surprisingly affecting melodrama concerning the contemporary loneliness with a strongly unexpected emotional charge, whose highly stylized handling and lack of narrative actually bring out naturalistic performances from Petra Martinez and Sonia Almarcha , among others . It deals with a number of roles who intertwine in a spiral of distress , family secrets , loeliness , confrontation and death. Jaime Rosales tries out in this film the technique of splitting images or polivision, consisting of dividing the screen into two symmetrical halves that show two different points of view of the same scene. The moralizing character of Petra lies in the reconciliation of a paradox between a subject with dramatic potential and its form, which keeps the viewer at a distance and thus prevents their immersion in the diegesis. A non-linear, elliptical , untidy, narrative divided into chapters , directing attention to what is to come while leaving the dramatic events out of the picture, and gradually the stories will drive them all to the edge , while essentially focusing on the irreversible causal chain they create. In this messed up gap created between form and content, the performance of the actors is particularly surprising. It remains without excesses, while it is restricted. Director Jaime Rosales is always trying to find new ways of expressing his art and his technique, he may disconcert those who, having seen one of his films, think he can be classified in one category or another. Uncertain, slow, the movements of the camera also contribute strongly to the sobriety of this game: it moves in the manner of an individual, zooming in on the characters first captured in a general plan, then directing its attention to one, then the other , before focusing your gaze on a surrounding object or nature. Unfortunately for them, but luckily for those who are in search of authentic artists, One of his films can be in black in white, the next one will be in color. In one of his works the unordered dialogue will be almost inaudible whereas in the following one it will be as clear and significant as can be. At times he will favor fixed shots while at others tracking shots will be the norm. In some sequences the time will be stretched, in some others contracted. So, do not try to label Jaime Rosales, you are bound to fail. Simply because the man loves experimentation and whether one likes his body of work or not, it cannot be denied that he is is a sincere, demanding artist constantly renewing himself.

The motion picture was regularly and disorderly directed by Jaime Rosales. Born in Barcelona in 1970, Jaime Rosales is not the routine kind of filmmaker but an offbeat director who honors not only Spanish cinema as well as the world cinema. The future darling of film festivals paradoxically started by studying economics. But more passionate about the seventh art, he changed course and joined two different film schools, EICTV in Cuba first and then AFTRSBE in Sydney, Australia. He soon found himself directing, three shorts for starters, which would be followed by eight features, all selected and awarded in film festivals, one of which, 'La Soledad' , even proving a surprise public success. If, as I said, Rosales never makes the same film twice, he does have one recurring theme. Plus a sub-theme, the harmful effects of violence on the seemingly well ordered everyday life of people, generally described beforehand, minutely and... slowly. Which is best exemplified by his first effort, 'Las horas del dia' (2003), with its belated revelation that the main protagonist, whose ordinary daily life has been described in detail, is... a serial killer. Violence will later upset the characters of all of his films, that inherent in solitude and cancer in 'La soledad' (2007), the ruthlessness of an ETA commando in 'Tiro en la cabeza' (2008), the loss of a child' in 'Sueño y silencio' (2014). It is the brutality of society against young people that induces the couple of 'Hermosa Juventud' or ¨Beautiful Youth¨(2014) , here Rosales takes a Verite approach to an unfortunate couple attempting to make a porn movie which gives the movie an added layer of reality and he uses technology in an interesting and new way to mark the passage of time.

The lives of a group of women are forensically examined in exemplary fashion by the Spanish director Jaime Rosales. Rosales is one of the least known of European directors but is also one of the most innovative. Here he uses split screen to a great effect than almost anyone else in recent memory. It's brilliant, it's simple and it never feels 'tricksy'. The setting is Madrid and this superbly acted film is as profound and as moving as anything by Almodovar.

The central characters are Adela, (Sonia Almarcha), a young mother who has moved to Madrid with her baby son and Antonia, (Petra Martinez), an older woman with three grown-up daughters. These women make up the backbone of the film and it's their resilience in the face of tragedy that is the main theme of the picture. The men in their lives do their best but they can't measure up; they are secondary characters, patient and somewhat lost. This is a 'women's picture' in the very best sense of the term yet since its debut at Cannes it's been shamefully overlooked. Seek it out.

It has been a nice surprise for me to see such a wonderful movie and I recognize that I would not have seen it if it had not been prized with three 2008 Goya Awards (including Best Film and Best Director ones). Of course, Spanish media did not talk too much about it because I can imagine they have not any economical or political interest on it. That is the way they do it.

But it is a delight that those kind of films are still done in 21st century, so simple, with no music and not dramatic special effects, with unknown but credible and natural actors and actresses. This film is an effective portrait of the Spanish society today with all its problems and all its virtues, with no typical images for tourists nor false features to sell a brilliant and fiction image of a Spain that does not actually exist.

I love the calmed atmosphere that wrap the scenes and the usual division of the image in two halves that let the audience have a double perspective of the scene. The static cameras and the frontal shots make me remember Yasujiro Ozu's style, so I like this film even more.

Finally, I must say that this is a film which proves that an excellent film can be done with not big amounts of money: an example to be followed.

Incredibly original, no movements of the camera, no music. Just two stories, just two lives, shown in an incredibly natural way.

Unfortunately for foreigners it will be impossible to understand the typical Spanish way of talking of the actors. Maybe they are a little bit polite, in Spain we are more rude while talking, especially in a village where one of the characters (Adela -> Sonia Almarcha) is supposed to come from.

In some movies, I have seen actors trying to be natural, but finally they end artificial, in this case the director has managed to make their cast simply real. The performance of the actors is very high, you can believe them...! Especially (Antonia -> Petra Martínez) a very typical Spanish mother who can do anything for their daughters, even forgetting her needs to give the most to them. I have checked the awards and she got just one, I guess there were very good performances that year because on the contrary, I cannot believe that her work does not deserve more.

The movie may be categorized as slow, but I think the speed of it is adequate and necessary to represent reality.

Finally, I really liked that due to the fix camera, we could watch the characters from perspectives that are not usual in films. It is a great, great movie.

I never saw anything as dreadful as this movie in my life. Never, I swear! It looks as done with a few Euro (for the camera rental), and nobody working on it got paid I'm sure. It couldn't possibly be any other way; everything is so static that one could fall asleep in every scene --they are THAT LONG--, the camera remains static for minutes at a time, the characters speak utterly boring lines.

The split screen is done with a vengeance to the bitter end of this horrible movie, almost for every scene.

One is forced to seat and seat, watching them do household chores like ironing COMPLETELY two T shirts (or something similar), from the beginning: One sleeve, right side (slOOOOwly), turn it, the other side, turn it; now the other sleeve (slOOOOwly), turn it, the other side, whoops! don't miss that wrinkle! okay, now the bodice of the shirt, be careful because it has to look very nice! let's see, first this side, now turn it (slOOOOwly), the other side..., NOW WE FOLD THE DAMNED THING...(slOOOOwly), and carefully once it's been folded, we lay it with care inside a basket full of other garments previously ironed and folded... in front of the camera... I wanted TO SCREEEEEAM!!!!

LET ME OUT OF HERE!! What do I care about these miserable people's problems!! Stupid people, stupid problems, the dialogs are moronic, so are the actors (probably the director's fault). Although..., maybe now that I think about it..., maybe THERE WAS NOT a director..., that's it! for a movie to be this bad, there was not a director!! Almodovar, Dear Almodovar... Where are you?? We need you, please!!