Niño nadie

In spite of the attraction that the names of Rafael Álvarez and Iciar Bollaín may have, or even Adriana Ozores and Lina Canalejas if you push me, I did not a priori expect much from this film, and was right. A rather misfired attempt at sardonic humour just did not hold its own. Rafael Álvarez has done too many good things; Icíar Bollaín has been an actress in one of the best Spanish films of all time - `El Sur' (1982) qv) - as well as directing her own films (`Flores de Otro Mundo' qv). `Niño Nadie' is a somewhat poor sample to include in their curriculum vitae. However, a good word must be said for José María Caffarel who supplied an interesting reading of an abject would-be philosophical poet well advanced in years and thus complete with a sardonic when not sarcastic understanding of life.

Overladen with supposed theoretical philosophy which did little or nothing to enhance the story, the film gets lost along the usual lines adopted by Borau - superficiality meandering noisily amid shallow intellectualism. Even the inclusion of some actors playing what I think was Calderón de la Barca, did little to change anything, except to accentuate the false notions of aspired intellectual philosophy.

The story did not reach me: it did not have anything to say; but that was as expected.