El color de las nubes

This is a gorgeous , exciting and touching Mario Camus film . Splendid movie that mingles thought-provoking drama , adventure , thriller , rural conventionality , social habits and suspense . This is a marvelous piece of human drama , full of mysterious intrigue , thrills and suspenseful happenings . It deals with an intense and complex friendship between two kids , an escaped little boy called Bartolomé and a Bosnian refugee , Mirsad , and two old people named Lola (Julia Gutiérrez Caba) , a veteran woman whom a mean landlord (Ramón Langa) wants to evict and Lolo (José Maria Domenech steals the show as an expert sea wolf) , an old fisherman who wishes help her ; as well as a young couple who falls in love , a humble rural shopkeeper called Clementina (Ana Duato) , and an upright lawyer (Antonio Valero) .

It is a peculiar tale starred by children and adults with plenty of adventures , thrills , love stories with a surprising result behind , where we find acute descriptions about ordinary people , some atmospheric settings as well as attractive and troublesome roles . It packs slick narrative , well paced and being one of the best works of Camus' last period . Adventure style movie in the wake of ¨Moonfleet¨ and ¨Mark Twain's adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck¨ , including thriller , suspense and twisted ending . It deals with contemporary issues such as evictions , Bosnian refugees from Servian war , drug trafficking and many other things . Based on a story by Miguel Rubio , Camus's usual co-writer , here Mario deals with some parallel stories -in Robert Altman style- that flow until an unexpected result , being dedicated to Julio Martin Leiva . The central axis results to be a main story originated from the past time and it unbalances the present epoch . Spotless pictorial as well as colorful photography by magnificent cameraman Jaume Peracaula , he carries out a photography with juicy atmosphere , being filmed on location in Madrid and San Vicente De La Barquera , Comillas , Cantabria . Furthermore , a willingness almost perfect of the elements of each frame , every scene , every place . Atmospheric and moving musical score by Sebastián Marimé .

The flick was well directed by Mario Camus following his Sui-Generis style . Camus was born in Santander , Cantabria , location in which he often shoots his films . He worked with Carlos Saura in several screenplays during the early 60s as ¨Los Golfos¨ (1960), ¨ Llanto Por Un Bandido¨ (1964), and also directed some shorts . Camus shows a penchant for literary and perhaps he's the best Spanish film adapter , a fact that will be a constant in his films . His first feature films were ¨Los Farsantes¨ (1963) and ¨Young Sánchez¨ (1964), this is one of the greatest movies about boxing which won the Best Film Award at the Buenos Aires Festival . Mario has an important career with film and television adaptations quite remarkable , as he efficiently directed yarns based on notorious writers such as Perez Galdos , García Lorca , Cela Camilo José Cela and Miguel Delibes . During various decades he touched styles varying from romantic comedies and musicals with ¨Rafael¨ to splendid adaptations from famous novels , as is the case of the prestigious TV series "Fortunata y Jacinta" (1979) . As he directed for TVE , a lot of series and TV films as ¨Leyenda Alcalde Zalamea¨, ¨Los Camioneros¨ , ¨Los Desastres De La Guerra¨ , the mythical series ¨Curro Jimenez¨ , ¨Mujer Y El Pelele¨ about Pierre Louys novel and ¨La Forja De Un Rebelde¨ . In 1983 he was given the 'Medalla Oro De las Bellas Artes' (Arts Gold Medal) , and one year later he prepared his most successful work both with public and critic : ¨Los Santos Inocentes¨ (1984), an adaptation from the novel by Miguel Delibes . Mario is an expert on interesting and provoking dramas as proved in ¨ The house of Bernarda Alba¨ , ¨La Colmena¨ which won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival , ¨The days of the past ¨ and many others . Camus made an attractive trilogy concerning love stories : ¨Pajaros De Baden Baden¨(74) , ¨Joven Casada¨ (76) and ¨Dias Del Pasado (77) , a romance among Maquis . In the nineties Mario directs tiny films in low budget but with big name actors as ¨Después Del Sueño¨(92) , ¨Sobras Una Batalla¨(93) , ¨Amor Propio¨(94) and this ¨Color De Las Nubes¨(97) . All of them conceptual as well as contemporary films , based on his own screenplays , non-novels , and concerning similar themes : a dark past that wakes up , including rare characters arrive in rustic locations and cause strong passions , shaking ancient stories , originating distresses and pains . Camus also wrote scripts for other directors as ¨Los Golfos¨ (60) by Carlos Saura and Wherther (86) , ¨Beltreneros¨(91) and ¨Pájaro De Felicidad¨(93) by Pilar Miró . Rating : Better than average ; it's an extremely decent film though sometimes slow-moving .

This is a somewhat complicated little piece as `El Color de las Nubes' tends to tie up different stories which all come together in time for `The End'. It is as if Mario Camus (his masterpiece is `Los Santos Inocentes' 1984, qv) intended trying out all kinds of cinematographic techniques all in one go, such that cottoning on to any possible sequence is initially not so easy. However, bear with it: the result is reasonably satisfying.

A young lad in Madrid is tossed back and forth between his divorced parents and manages to wangle his way into a group of Bosnian children refugees and thus gets sent to a large country house in Cantabria, Northern Spain, where he gets involved in the three other stories intermingling among each other, seemingly disconnected at first. So pay attention or you will miss how all this ends up in a coherent package. Am not particularly keen on Ana Duato, but must admit that in this film the further you get into the story the more convincing - and pleasing - she becomes. At least it is refreshing to see her without Imanol Arias....!! Julia Gutiérrez Caba is of course admirable as always, though in this case one could surmise she is in a part that might be considered atypical for her. Full marks to both lads - Pedro Barrejón and the Bosnian Adis Suijic, and the secondary actors are all pretty good, convincing.

What is spectacular is the photography: how could it be otherwise in all the splendid, glorious scenery of Cantabria? Most of the film is made in the small city of San Vicente de la Barquera in the extreme west of this beautiful province, and thus almost exactly in the middle of Spain's northern Cantabrian coastline. I could hardly think of a better place for your summer holidays: there is so much to see and do all around you, such beautiful landscapes within easy reach by car, nearly all protected natural reserves and parks, as well as the famous nearby prehistoric caves in Santillana del Mar (mentioned in this film). And if you have the luck to have some warm sunny days, there are plenty of beautiful beaches to choose from. Fly into Bilbao if you can and take the FEVE (narrow gauge railway) meandering along the coastline - we see one in the film! It takes hours, but what a wonderful way of travelling! If you have to fly into Madrid, take the `Alsa' bus north.

Although I've never been to Spain, I loved the varied scenic views in this film which are fantastic. I agree it does seem somewhat dis-jointed at first but it eventually all comes together. The two boys are good actors, intelligent and quite charming, especially Pedro Barrejon as they both appear to be around ten years old. But its that wanderlust displayed by Pedro that doesn't care to hang around his divorced parents, but take his chances among total strangers which takes me back to my own boyhood and the freedom I had to roam the woods and streams connects to these boys and the magic of boyhood to relive all over again which is missing from American cinema. I highly recommend this film.