Piedras

This 2002 Spanish film has many interesting cinema moments, an elaborate structure, and good acting that makes it stand one step ahead of the crowd. Yet the lack of one convincing theme or story line makes the overall movie look a little bit dis-oriented. The structure of the movie - five parallel stories involving Madrid women fighting with the hardships of live and love, stories that are interleaved and synchronized together up to one point - seems a little bit too sophisticated for what is after all a collection of themes that seem to be combined from the soap operas or talk shows that we see some of the characters watching as some kind of common background, with stories of relationships reminding Almodovar, but without the extra step that makes the great director movies hard to forget. And yet, director Ramon Salazar shows a good control of the actors and artistic means, and I am really wondering why he had made so few films until now.

Women have never looked so attractive and pathetic as in Salazar's film Piedras. Although editor's cut here and there might help the film, it is exciting and enjoyable with an intense mark from Pedro Almodovar's latest films. 5 different women are coping with their male partners and families. Beginning with several different stories bound to meet as the plot goes on, Salazar portraits his women characters in the same neurotic and border-line behaviour familiar to Almodovar. A kleptomaniac high society lady with a fattish to smaller shoes, a burlesque house madam taking care of her disabled daughter, a drug addict dancer obsessed with her former boyfriend and a taxi-driver taking care of her late husband's disturbed kids, all roaming the streets of Madrid in well designed scenes. Using some of Almodovar's familiar actresses, the director succeeds in it's first film to give depth to all the characters sharing the film, and to create genuine sympathy with each of them. The women controls the plot line, and the men are bound to be left with each other, eventually... Surprisingly good for a first film, and worth the time in any standard. It is noticeable that Salazar hesitated in some needed guidelines to the actresses, but an impressible act is shown anyway on the screen, especially by Monica Cervera, which played in his former short film.

A must to all Almodovar's fans, and enjoyable to all.

Several story lines are interwoven here around different women characters. The shoes they wear serve as an indication of their troubled lives. All are transformed at the end of the movie. Adela (Antonia San Juan) leads a brothel; Her daughter Anita (Monica Cervera) is retarded and has a restricted life. Leire (Najwa Nimri) is a shoe designer with problems and loses her boyfriend; Maricarmen (Vicky Peña) has lost her husband and now raises the children from his deceased former wife. Isabel (Ángela Molina) is a bored rich lady.

Other characters are used to connect the five main women characters. In storytelling not everything is given away in the beginning: Some connections are established surprisingly late in the movie and that adds to the experience. The shoe-theme is driven to extremes: For example when Leire as a shoe-designer and working in a shoe store where she steals her shoes faints, she breaks one of her heels.

In editing small connections are made between the scenes. A telephone rings, a cigarette is lit, a song, etc. are used to make the connection and fast cuts. Frequent change of storyline keeps it from being boring or reaching TV-levels. It is strongly music-driven to set tone and atmosphere. The cities of Madrid and Lisbon serve as the backdrop for the stories, and shots of those cities are used to extend the story beyond the characters. One of the more moving shots is when Anita, who makes the same walk every day, widens her walk and restricted life from the relative calm of her street to the busy main road: How the restriction of space is visually translated is well done. As with most Spanish movies a lot of storytelling is done visually, using the soap-like stories as the simple backdrop. There is a poetic ending that is somewhat romantic and sentimental but is still beautiful.

As Ramón Salazar is too much in love with his own material it is overlong. Some scenes are kitsch and on the soap level, including the acting (Adela's love life, Isabel's doctor). The shoe-theme is exaggerated and is a weak metaphor.

This is often compared to Magnolia because the structure is the same. But they are different. Magnolia is more technically competent, but somewhat mechanical. This has more the ability to translate emotion and atmosphere visually. After seeing this, you are inclined to immediately move to the new movie-city: Madrid.

¨Piedras" turns out to be a moving drama well realized by Ramon Salazar about human relationships . A brooding story where predominates intense drama and above all , there's a good feeling . The tale introduces us lives of people under the focus of lower-middle and high class in a big capital , Madrid . The small, everyday stories of a group of citizens who live , work and suffer in a great city , and the little secrets that they hide . The flick gives a short description about their parallel existences . All of them are endeavoring to remove the stones that insistently appear in their path or , worst , that are in their shoes . They are five Cinderellas : Adela (Antonia San Juan) , Leire (Najwa Nimri) , Maricarmen (Vicky Peña) , Anita (Mónica Cervera) in search of prince charming and a new chance in this unfortunate lives .

The film tells the touching story of various protagonists , conflicting trajectory of various hapless women and their lovers . This is an interesting and thought-provoking drama in long length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility . This is a thought-provoking as well as pleasant flick filmed with great sensitivity and feeling . This overlong film knows very well inter-cross these troublesome roles , five women who have not been able to organize the large "stones" in their fateful existences . The picture is very interesting as well as provoking , though some infinite sadness follows the film at times . The flick moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable , with more traps the viewer resists any kind , and some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few disconcerting . It's an intelligent and touching story although sometimes is slow moving and tiring but is finely developed with sense of style and sensibility . Attractive drama filled with emotion , artistic scenes and plenty of sensitivity . The picture relies heavily on the unusual relationships among frustrated , unfortunate and betrayed women , but it doesn't makes boring , as it results to be entertaining . This is an attractive movie plenty of nice feeling , drama , stirring scenes and tragic love stories . Dramatic screenplay by the same filmmaker , including some autobiographic elements . The film enjoys a breeze as well as moving final , and gives us much to think about it and in which doesn't deceive or dramatize unnecessarily . Along these lines, it is clear that writer/filmmaker Salazar tries to create an unforgettable picture . Apart from that , it has a touch Pedro Almodovar that always feels good . Most of the film locations are around Lisbon , Almada , Portugal and Madrid city , which is location where director Salazar grow up , though he was born in Malaga . The picture is primarily supported by sensational players, as Angela Molina , Vicky Peña , Antonia San Juan , Najwa Nimri , both of whom give sensational acting . All of them carry out their characters to perfection and show a look that says it all . The support cast is frankly nice , such as Lola Dueñas , Andrés Gertrúdix , Maria Casal , Daniele Liotti , and Susi Sanchez , among others . Furthermore , there stands out Monica Cervera as mentally-handicapped daughter .

Emotive and stirring musical score by Parcal Gaigne , an expert composer who has composed and conducted a lot of scores such as ¨Mensaka¨ , ¨Silencio Roto¨ , ¨Lasa and Zabala¨, ¨Azuloscurocasinegro¨ , ¨Gordos¨ and many others . The soundtrack flows great with the film in every way , and creates a catching atmosphere in every moment , adding a sensitive leitmotif . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by David Carretero , being shot on location , he has photographed known films as ¨Dalton versus Lucky Luke¨, ¨The nun¨, ¨Malas Temporadas¨ and ¨Utopia¨ . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Ramón Salazar . This Spanish director defines his first feature ¨Stones¨ in this way : "In life, we first organize large stones such as love, friendship, family, and a career ; in this way, we will find space between these to fit smaller stones, our small necessities ; if you act in an inverse way, you will not have the room for larger stones¨. Here he presents a fresh portrait with agreeable as well as dramatic moments , but mostly so that you shrink the heart with these unlucky people . Ramon Salazar has written various successful pictures such as : 2010 ¨Tres Metros Sobre El Cielo¨, 2012 ¨Tengo Ganas De Ti¨ , 2002 ¨Amnesia¨ and directed a few movies : ¨10.000 Noches En Ninguna Parte¨ , 2005 ¨Twenty Centímetros¨ and this ¨Piedras¨or ¨Stones¨ .

I saw this movie at the 18th Haifa film festival, and it is one of the best I've seen this year. Seeing it on a big screen (and I mean BIG, not one of those TV screens most cinemas have) with an excellent sound system always enhance the cinematic experience, as the movie takes over your eyes and ears and sucks you into the story, into the picture.

The movie presents a set of characters, which are loosely inter-connected. Their stories cross at certain points, and the multiplicity of story lines reminded me very much of the great Robert Altman and his exquisite films. But the true hero of the movie is obviously the city of Madrid, which provides the backdrop for the entire movie. It houses the characters, contains the pavements and roads on which they walk, and sets the background atmosphere for all the events, all in beautifully filmed scenes.

The movie returns again and again to certain themes (shoes, for instance), and in essence Salazar makes his metaphores more and more understandable to the viewer as the movie progresses. He combines the views of the city with the shots of the characters, and elegantly matches the feeling of the scene to the background. A set of talented actors helps him portrait a wide variety of characters. One excellent example is the scene in which Juaquin takes Anita across the street for the first time. It might not work on a small screen, but it gave me goose bumps easily on a big screen.

The message of the movie is very positive, and accordingly the movie is light and funny at times. The music along the movie is usually pop, with a few instrumental pieces (I hope to put my hand on the soundtrack one day, although I seriously doubt I will).

All together, I came out of this movie with a sensational feeling, and I'm not easily impressed (you'll have to take my word for it). For this and more I give this movie a solid 8/10.