Piedras
Ramon Salazar's "Piedras" (Stones) is an artful soap opera about five women in Madrid linked by circumstance, coincidence and chance, not to mention feet and shoes. The protracted film takes a long time to kick in, but eventually the characters' overwrought emotional lives give the story lines enough dramatic urgency to provoke interest.
"Piedras" is a natural for the festival circuit, but chances of distribution deals outside Europe are slim. An adventurous North American distributor could pitch the film to older women while playing up the similarities between "Piedras" and ensemble films by such directors as Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson and even fellow Spaniard Pedro Almodovar.
Initially, shoes link the characters. Isabel (Angela Molina) has a collection that fills a walk-in closet. Maricarmen (Vicky Pena), a taxi driver, suffers from bunions, so she wears slippers. Leire (Najwa Nimri) once dreamed of designing shoes but gave that up for her boyfriend.
Mildly retarded Anita (Monica Cervera) tramps around the block daily in training shoes while her mom, Adela Antonia San Juan), works in a brothel, where shoes are seldom needed.
Soon other things connect the women. Toughened by life, Adela to her astonishment finds herself falling in love with an older businessman, Leonardo Rodolfo De Souza). Adela's ardent admirer turns out to be the estranged husband of Isabel, who punishes him for his disinterest by spending money and conducting sordid affairs.
When Adela hires nursing student Joaquin (Enrique Alcides) to look after her daughter, Joaquin decides to expand Anita's world beyond her one city block. Then when Leire's boyfriend, Kun (Daniele Liotti), dumps her, he moves in with Joaquin.
Maricarmen is raising her deceased husband's son and daughter despite the fact the latter hates her. Leire, in despair with heartbreak, seeks out her estranged father, which turns out to be Maricarmen's dead husband.
Throw in drug overdoses, alcoholic binges and a near suicide, and you have a pretty good go at "Days of Our Lives, Spanish-style." Fortunately, Salazar, a first-time writer-director, does plant agreeable surprises in his story lines. Best of all, though, is his wonderful cast.
Molina is appropriately brittle and bitter as the discarded upper-class wife. Cervera gives her mentally challenged character a childlike wonder, forever searching the world for something to call her own. Neither happy hooker nor downtrodden victim, San Juan's prostitute is a matter-of-fact working mom, shorn of sentimentality. Having little to work with, Nimri nonetheless conveys the pain of her lover's rejection. Despairing of a life of work, work and more work, Pena's taxi driver finds an outlet in nonstop, stream-of-consciousness monologues whether passengers like it nor not.
The movie, too, rambles. Subplots wander and characters dither as the tyro director gets lost in his own self-indulgence. Behind-the-camera credits are decent, especially David Carretero's night cinematography. However, not much is made of Madrid as a location, which might reflect the film's budgetary limitations.
PIEDRAS
Alquimia Cinema presents in association with
Ensueno Films and Telemadrid
and the collaboration of Via Digital
and the participation of Antena 3 Television
a Francisco Ramos production
Producer: Francisco Ramos
Screenwriter-director: Ramon Salazar
Director of photography: David Carretero
Production designer: Montse Sanz
Music: Pascal Gaigne
Costume designer: Estibaliz Markiegi
Editor: Teresa Font
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adela: Antonia San Juan
Leire: Najwa Nimri
Maricarmen: Vicky Pena
Anita: Monica Cervera
Isabel: Angela Molina
Joaquin: Enrique Alcides
Kun: Daniele Liotti
Leonardo: Rodolfo de Souza
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Piedras" is a natural for the festival circuit, but chances of distribution deals outside Europe are slim. An adventurous North American distributor could pitch the film to older women while playing up the similarities between "Piedras" and ensemble films by such directors as Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson and even fellow Spaniard Pedro Almodovar.
Initially, shoes link the characters. Isabel (Angela Molina) has a collection that fills a walk-in closet. Maricarmen (Vicky Pena), a taxi driver, suffers from bunions, so she wears slippers. Leire (Najwa Nimri) once dreamed of designing shoes but gave that up for her boyfriend.
Mildly retarded Anita (Monica Cervera) tramps around the block daily in training shoes while her mom, Adela Antonia San Juan), works in a brothel, where shoes are seldom needed.
Soon other things connect the women. Toughened by life, Adela to her astonishment finds herself falling in love with an older businessman, Leonardo Rodolfo De Souza). Adela's ardent admirer turns out to be the estranged husband of Isabel, who punishes him for his disinterest by spending money and conducting sordid affairs.
When Adela hires nursing student Joaquin (Enrique Alcides) to look after her daughter, Joaquin decides to expand Anita's world beyond her one city block. Then when Leire's boyfriend, Kun (Daniele Liotti), dumps her, he moves in with Joaquin.
Maricarmen is raising her deceased husband's son and daughter despite the fact the latter hates her. Leire, in despair with heartbreak, seeks out her estranged father, which turns out to be Maricarmen's dead husband.
Throw in drug overdoses, alcoholic binges and a near suicide, and you have a pretty good go at "Days of Our Lives, Spanish-style." Fortunately, Salazar, a first-time writer-director, does plant agreeable surprises in his story lines. Best of all, though, is his wonderful cast.
Molina is appropriately brittle and bitter as the discarded upper-class wife. Cervera gives her mentally challenged character a childlike wonder, forever searching the world for something to call her own. Neither happy hooker nor downtrodden victim, San Juan's prostitute is a matter-of-fact working mom, shorn of sentimentality. Having little to work with, Nimri nonetheless conveys the pain of her lover's rejection. Despairing of a life of work, work and more work, Pena's taxi driver finds an outlet in nonstop, stream-of-consciousness monologues whether passengers like it nor not.
The movie, too, rambles. Subplots wander and characters dither as the tyro director gets lost in his own self-indulgence. Behind-the-camera credits are decent, especially David Carretero's night cinematography. However, not much is made of Madrid as a location, which might reflect the film's budgetary limitations.
PIEDRAS
Alquimia Cinema presents in association with
Ensueno Films and Telemadrid
and the collaboration of Via Digital
and the participation of Antena 3 Television
a Francisco Ramos production
Producer: Francisco Ramos
Screenwriter-director: Ramon Salazar
Director of photography: David Carretero
Production designer: Montse Sanz
Music: Pascal Gaigne
Costume designer: Estibaliz Markiegi
Editor: Teresa Font
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adela: Antonia San Juan
Leire: Najwa Nimri
Maricarmen: Vicky Pena
Anita: Monica Cervera
Isabel: Angela Molina
Joaquin: Enrique Alcides
Kun: Daniele Liotti
Leonardo: Rodolfo de Souza
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/27/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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