Ilona llega con la lluvia

A picaresque story, fascinating in its cosmopolitan/exotic atmosphere, pervaded by an aura of joy and lightness, which would turn slowly in a sense of sadness (marked by the deep change in Ilona's jocund personality) and would culminate in despair for the sudden unexpected tragedy. Unjustly underestimated at Venice Festival 1996.

Discover a fantastic 1996 film by Sergio Cabrera: Ilona arrives in the rain. An erotic mélo that takes you back to the cinema of Fassbinder and Almodovar. Perfect in construction, reinterpreting Alvaro Mutis' novel through images. Beautifully played by Margarita Rosa de Francisco, Imanol Arias, Pastora Vega and Humberto Dorado.

Not much was expected from this film, judging from previous examples from Sergio Cabrera (such as `Severo Ochoa' TV-mini, qv), such that the resulting treatment of a surprisingly original story was quite satisfying in a way. Or at least mildly entertaining with some really good moments. The ingredients almost seem to be from a novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte but is in fact from an unknown (for me) Álvaro Mutis: three friends decide to do anything and everything to get the money to buy a tramp-steamer; one is a Lebanese in a Ceutí prison (Ceuta is a Spanish enclave in North Africa), one is a sailor on a bankrupt ship who ends up being paid off with a priceless jewel of the captain's wife, and the girl of the film is bent on setting up brothels anywhere between Panamá, Stockholm and Singapore or South Africa from whence she is thrown out for shouting out against the apartheid régime. With moments bordering on fantasies, as well as the continuous flash-backs and changes from Abdul in one place, Margarita in another and everyone else anywhere else or in between, the film is guaranteed to keep you awake at least, and probably fascinated with where all this will end up.

Nicely photographed in such attractive places La Habana and Cartagena de las Indias – among others – the film might seem to be classified as a comedy if you do not take care of the more serious aspects, tragicomedy if you get bound up with the ending, or even a parabole if you get lost around the middle, but anyway cannot be classified as any of the three.

The main actors, pretty good – even Imanol Arias as an Arab-looking type comes out very well, considering…… and as for the girls, well, you have some steamy sex scenes to keep all kinds of appetites whetted, though Sr. Arias misses out as he is too bent on pulling off the wangled deal to land a tramp-steamer owned by Sr. Stavropoulous, who played his part excellently, as also did Sain Castro in the part of Sr. Peñalosa.

The original music was nothing of the kind as Luis Bacalov had the theme from `Un Homme et Une Femme' running through his head most of the time, `The Lark Ascending' by Ralph Vaughan-Williams some of the time, and there was just a moment that suggested a fragment of the very well-known `Bacchiana Brasileira' by Héctor Villa-Lobos.

I would give this film a bit above a 6 on any scale from 0 to 10 purely on its entertainment value.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film simply because it was different, and because it wasn't possible to tell what would happen next. Not being able to guess the outcome or the next scene made it lots of fun, stimulating, shall I say challenging (?) to watch. One drawback of this, however, was that I never had any feeling for when the film was going to end, which made it seem long at times.

It was fun to pretend it was filmed in Panama, even if parts of it were filmed elsewhere. As I watched with a native-born Panamanian, he kept saying he "almost" recognized certain scenery from when he was growing up. Although I did visit about six years ago, I was never certain of recognizing anything specific.

For a non-native speaker of Spanish, the language was quite clear. Characters enunciated well, making it easy to understand, even without subtitles (though I did use them).

I would like to ask for input from anyone who reads this: What do you think the ending "meant"? Is one supposed to draw a specific conclusion, or are there multiple possibilities of interpretation? Did the writer/director intend for the viewers to learn any particular life lessons from the story? It's because I have been thinking of the film since I watched it that I chose to type an entry here today. Though I have seen several films in the interim, "Ilona" remains with me in images and feelings.

Thank you for reading.

p.s. This is the very first time I am posting a response to a film on the IMDb, though I have often visited the site to read reviews.