El pecador impecable

Upon the death of his possessive mother, Doña Aurora (Rafaela Aparicio) , the fifty-year-old shoemaker Honorio (Alfredo Landa) embarks on a succession of love affairs with his neighbor Marta (Alicia Sánchez), with the widow Mercedes (Queta Claver) and the stamp collector Maria (Julieta Serrano). However, he likes the teen skater Valeria (Sofia Cifuentes), the baker's daughter, while his cousin Veni (Chus Lampreave) tries to marry him by force.

A depressing mixture of drama and comedy (Dramedy) does not quite come together as it should , resulting to be an uneven film that works at times , above all due to Landa's great performance as the eternal loser , an intimate role . Based on the novel of the same name by Manuel Hidalgo and taking the Italian production as a model:¨Come drink the coffee with us¨ or ¨Vene a prendere il caffé da noi¨ (1970) by Alberto Lattuada, director Augusto M. Torres makes his only film commercial . This El pecador impecable(1987) was misunderstood by the critics who take it as one of Alfredo Landa's typical comedies, it obtained limited success and contains an adequate description of the Las Salesas area of Madrid. It is a simple , and humorous portrait of a past time , a recent post-Francoist period in the Eighties . Its nostalgic look has some passable moments that reflect a Spain in economic developing during the years when the action takes place . It is full of typical Spanish topics , a simple plot and including atmospheric sets . This film is made to entertain , and this movie , especially for a good time and a pleasant entertainment , including bewildering happenings . The flick packs silly incidents , funny comical sketches , tongue-in-cheek , grotesque situations and above all , it especially contains catching touches of humor and irony . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylishly agreeable . There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . This is a fun and funny , though mediocre , Spanish comedy with the great Alfredo Landa as a shy and botcher shoes seller who once dead his mother , has an only objective , to flirt , while falling in love for his very young neighbour . Alfredo Landa is well accompanied by a great support cast . Alfredo was one of the best and more popular Spanish actors and creator a cinematic subgenre : Landismo. His long career is formed by 110 films for forty years . In his first period through the 60s he starred secondary comical roles in notorious titles as El Verdugo by Berlanga , Ninette y un Señor de Murcia by Fernando Fernan Gomez , and No somos de piedra by Manuel Summers .After the successful No desearas el vecino del quinto by Ramon Fernandez , he performed over 30 comedies in Spanish style : "a la Española" , creating the "Landismo", including titles as Prestamela 15 dias , No desearas la mujer del vecino , Simon contamos contigo , Guapo heredero busca esposa , Dormir ligar todo es empezar , No firmes mas letras cielo , Vente a ligar al Oeste , Jenaro el de los 14 , Manolo La Nuit , Un curita cañon , El reprimido . His third period starts with El puente by JA Bardem , being directed by prestigious filmmakers as Jose Luis Garci in Las verdes praderas , El crack I, El crack II , Cancion de cuna ; Antonio Mercero in La proxima estacion ; Luis Garcia Berlanga in La vaquilla ; Basilio Martin Patino directed him in Los parasos perdidos , Jose Luis Borau in Tata mia and J. L Cuerda in El bosque animado . And standing out important characters in Los Santos Inocentes by Mario Camus , Don Quijote TV series and El Rey del rio by Manuel Gutierrez Aragon .

This ¨El pecador impecable¨displays a very good support casting giving acceptable interpretations , in fact , one of the main distractions of the film is to discover what notorious secondary will appear next , such as : Julieta Serrano , Queta Claver , Alicia Sánchez , Rafaela Aparicio , Diana Peñalver , José Sazatornil , Tomás Zori , Maria Isbert , Ricardo Palacios , Manuel Zarzo , among others. Adding cameos from prestigious directors and writers , such as : Jaime Chávarri , Fernando Colomo , Álvaro del Amo , Ricardo Franco , Emilio Martínez Lázaro , Vicente Molina Foix , Alfonso Ungría , Gerardo Vera . The motion picture written by prestigious Rafael Azcona was middlingly directed by Augusto M. Torres. Rating : 4.5/10 . Only for Alfredo Landa fans.