7 Anos

I did enjoy the movies, in general I do like "one room" movies as there's nowhere to hide and the viewer can entirely focus on the story. Very theatrical.

I have two point I would like to mention:

• there's a bit too much camera jumping around from one side of the table to the other, this is usually normal and expected for dialogues, but when the entire movie is pointing at faces of people after 1h:30 it feels a bit too much.

• I think we are in front of a great missed opportunity. The subjects are so unique and especially beautiful/rich that it's difficult for a "normal viewer" to engage or be part of them. You probably feel opposite like criticising them. No Stockholm syndrome.

Nonetheless I would suggest the viewing.

Not a bad movie although not my cup of tea. But very smart, intelligent which reminds me a French feature from 1964, directed by Christian jacques, LE REPAS DES FAUVES, with nearly the very same scheme. Very same.

Imagine you are one of four partners of a highly successful technology firm. Imagine that you become frustrated with the government spending of your hard-earned tax money in your country, Spain, and decide to overcome the problem by committing tax fraud and stashing away millions in secure Swiss accounts. Now, the Spanish tax authorities smell a rat and are about to pounce on your clandestine accounts et al. You are all certain to go to jail for at least seven years. But. There is a way out. If one of you takes the fall, not all need to be imprisoned. One can save the other three.

How do you decide who makes the sacrifice?

This is the premise of the hot-off-the-press drama 7 Años. It premiered on the 28th of October, and thank you Netflix for bringing us this first original European Spanish production.

So, the four friends and business partners are Luis, Veronica, Marcel, and Carlos. Rather astutely, they hire a mediator to help them solve their conundrum. (Jose the mediator has a rather thorny task, obviously, but he's offered a cushy sum for his troubles.) The very fact that the four have hired him at all tells us something about them, and as we progress in this tight 77-minute drama, we see more and more of these characters.

Read full review at: https://devikamenon.blogspot.com/2016/11/foreign-movie-friday-7- anos.html

Really good acting and interesting character development in a tense and claustrophobic setting.

Big personalities battling to expose each other's emotional weaknesses that pretty much covered all 7 of the deadly sins. The premise for the plot of corporate financial wrongdoing did not make you favor one character over another so was left to the film to lead you to the same conclusions on each person as each of the characters would have as they attacked each other on a personal level.

The attacks started fairly civilized as they utilize a third party but quickly drop the passive aggressiveness and go full on. This transition is really the point of the film and the pace is just about right.

The ending was a bit abrupt and disappointingly predictable but by that time the viewers' verdict was set and the ending, while a let down, was somewhat inconsequential to the success of the film.

Business as usual ... except when you get caught doing something you are not allowed to do. Usually you then have to suffer the consequences. Unless you decide that someone could sacrifice themselves to save others. And that is the overall premise here. Although as you can imagine no one is willing to take the fall like that.

So this drama/thriller is playing out in one location and therefor has to have something more going for it, twists and character traits, people clashing with each other. And overall the tension is kept throughout with moods swinging, opinions changing and views deceived. It works nicely, but it's not the very best out there. Still to be able to watch this so closely to its release in Spain in another country (also on Netflix) is kind of nice