Próxima

Bad, Bad, Bad….. Utterly Bad!

Why? Because…after 37 years that I have endured to take watching several awful films, this was the first time that …'leave the theater, now!' crossed my mind several times during the screening. I saw it a couple of days ago in FANTASPORTO film festival in Portugal. The producers and the director where there and said it was a low budget sci-Fi. OK, I thought, I love sci-Fi and I love low budget movies. I have a lot of them. It's got to have some qualities, I thought. Nope, no qualities! I got to get out of here, I thought, this is torture! But I didn't… I stayed the whole movie and I regret it. Almost 2 hours! Argh!

I'm not alone on this, several people where smart enough to leave the theater…I was not!

I saw "PROXIMA" at the special screening at Huelva, with very bad sound conditions. But I should also say that it is a very captivating film, with a perfect rhythm (quite slow, but as Wenders said once: "if you are not in a hurry"...), and exceptional actors and music. There are very few sci-fi films in Spain, and sure this is the best one, and a film comparable with any sci-fi foreign film. The most important things in this movie are not visual effects, but an intelligent screenplay that suggests multiple meanings. Atanes has repeated his challenge of mix sci-fi and philosophy, as he done with "FAQ". Of course, that's not digestible for all the audiences, though I think "PROXIMA" is also an amusing and sometimes brilliant film.

Very interesting low budget Spanish psychological Sci-Fi film, with a quirky sense of humor.

It has holes and weak spots, but I admire it 's aiming high, and using it's tiny budget to the fullest.

This has more in common with 'The Who Fell To Earth' and 'Solaris' than 'Star Wars'.

It's about a shlub sci-fi geek, who may have found a metaphysical portal to another world, or may just be losing his mind.

Full of interesting images and music, at times it gets too cute or clever for it's own good, at other times it drags, and the acting is uneven, but it's certainly more thought provoking than a lot of what's out there.

I could see re-visiting, and even raising it's rating.

I was also in Fantasporto, and I was one of that part of the audience who enjoyed the film, a very imaginative, original and well, very well played low-budget science fiction film. "Próxima" carried me to my childhood dreams, when my main desire was to be a space traveler. "Proxima" communicates a sense of wonder that don't many films do now, a sense of wonder like the classic sci-fi had. Carlos Atanes is a great dreamer, and he has made a film for dreamers. I understand perfectly there are people who only enjoy action and special effects: OK, "Próxima" is not for them. But I and the people who really love the essential science-fiction, based on concepts instead of pyrotechnics shall be conscious of its greatness.