Cerrar los ojos

Enjoyable picture full of feeling, evocative mood pieces, wonderful images and a sense of wonder thanks to its cinematography and music. Dealing with a Spanish actor (an aging José Coronado) who disappears during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the mystery returns to our days. So an old friend of his, a film director and writer (Manolo Solo) begins a tireless search to find out where he is, for which he contacts with his daughter (Ana Torrent).

It is a melancholic, prolix and eminently thoughtful treatise on memory, nostalgia, identity, the passage of time and the power of cinema, recurring themes in Erice's not very prolific work. The film includes numerous allusions to cinema and literature. As well as self-references from Víctor Erice himself and his filmography. Starring Manolo Solo along with José Coronado, the latter won deservedly the Goya 2024 for best supporting actor, both give an extraordinary performance, in addition to other well-known actors, such as Ana Torrent, Petra Martínez, María León, Mario Pardo, Helena Miquel, Josep Maria Pou, Soledad Villamil, and despite his prominence on the billboards, Antonio Dechent and Juan Margallo show up on screen for only a few minutes.

Received with a seven-minute ovation at its premiere at the Cannes festival, it is the return to feature film direction, with full of honors, of Victor Erice, three decades after the premiere of his previous film: ¨El Sol del Membrillo¨. And winning several national and international awards. Being nominated for 11 Goya awards, winning only the best supporting actor for the aforementioned José Coronado.

Closing Your Eyes (2023) features lavish photography by magnificent cameraman Valentín Álvarez, as well as an evocative musical score by Federico Jusid. Being filmed in several Spanish locations, such as: Castell de Ferro, Granada, Aguadulce, Almería, Andalusia, Asturias and Madrid. The film was well directed by Victor Erice, although very slow and somewhat boring due to its long duration -almost three hours- with a lot of silence and excessive dialogue. Víctor is considered to be one of the best Spanish directors, known for El sur (1983), El Espíritu de la Colmena (1973) and El sol del membrillo (1992). 'El Sur' is a sensational film that offers a thought-provoking plot and is deemed one of the best Spanish films, in fact it was voted sixth best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 at the centenary of Spanish cinema, while ¨El Espíritu de la Colmena¨ was voted third best Spanish film. Erice was going to write and direct The Shanghai Haunting (2002), based on a novel written by Juan Marsé. Although Marsé praised Erice's script, producer Andrés Vicente Gómez rejected it. After some rewrites, also rejected by the producer, Erice chose to leave the project and was replaced by Fernando Trueba. Then he decided to abandon the shhoting of pictures until resuming today with this 'Closing your eyes'. Rating Cerrar los ojos (2023) : 6.5/10. Above average, well worth watching.

We begin by watching a ten minute excerpt from a drama that shortly afterwards discover is just about all there is from the final film of acclaimed Spanish actor "Julio Arenas". He finished filming for the day then was never seen nor heard from again. Many years later, a television journalist "Soriano" (Helena Miquel) invites the film's director "Garay" (Manolo Solo) onto her missing persons television programme with a view to finding out just what happened to him. In best "Crimewatch" style, someone calls into the programme with a possible lead. Might they have found this man after all these years? On the face of it, the story is all a bit predictable. It's the quality of the acting and the writing that puts the meat on the bones, and both Solo and the Jose Coronoado as handyman "Gardel" deliver engagingly well. It is a slow burn of a film, with an emphasis split between the search for the actor and the search of "Garay" for some degree of closure so he can get on with his life rather listlessly spent reading, drinking, smoking and fishing with the fellow residents of his squat. Fans of "Rio Bravo" (1959) might recognise the song he sings with neighbours "Toni" (Dani Téllez) and his expectant wife, and those few moments of the film demonstrate nicely the emotions of friendship, emotion and loneliness director Victor Erice wants to convey for just about all of the principal characters. The conclusion in inconclusive, but it does make you pine a little for the days where even the smallest of towns had it's own cinema. I wonder if anyone should ever make the underpinning movie? This is worth watching.

The title of the movie has to refer to what happens to you when you watch it. Jokes aside it's the first time I fall asleep in the cinema while watching a movie. The seats weren't tall enough so I couldn't rest my head and I was constantly falling asleep in the void and then instantly waking ip. That was going on for the last 45 minutes of the film. Has to be the slower movie I've ever watched. I was waiting for a climax or something to compensate me but it wasn't there. Nothing ever happened. Everything stays unanswered which is not bad by itself but in this case some answers would be the least.

With all of the experimental and independent cinema around, it's a treat to discover a contemporary film with the distinct touch of a master. What makes a masterpiece? It's in the pacing, the framing and the discipline and patience to tell a story with depth. It's a combination that requires a degree of maturity and mastery of the craft, rarely acheived by new directors.

'Close Your Eyes' is an experience like contemplating the ocean waves as they meet the shore. It deals with themes of aging and memory and the realm where cinema encounters the world. It requires that we slow down and immerse ourselves in each moment as it unfolds, revealing each step in a journey about longing and a quest to discover who we are. It's a film about faces and places and encounters with others, taking us on a journey through time and spaces, where actual people live and breathe.

We live in an age of digital spectacles filled with flash and surprises that offer the adrenalized experience of watching long commercials. 'Close Your Eyes' demonstrates the power of film, in the hands of one of its masters, to bring us back to ourselves.

I loved this film, the direction of the actors, the pacing and how natural it felt. I watched it over two nights - it's a long film but I was completely involved in the story. All of the characters contributed to the effectiveness of the film and added depth. Nothing felt shallow or forced. The central mystery made me want to watch to the end and discover what had happened to him all those years ago. It's a love letter to film making too and the power of film to affect us and stay in our memory, and how it can change our lives. I'm surprised to read the negative reviews. A brilliant ending, too.