El camino de los ingleses

This movie tells the story of a group of young friends facing the end of their teen years during a fateful summer.Although it is a Spanish film set in the seventies, the topics and the way they are portrayed make it a whole universal experience (I am Spanish but I can't recall any localism of notice). You can tell that this movie has been made with all guts, heart and soul, or passion if you like, it sparkles all over the frame.The suffering and pain of teen years (and the joy of friendship, love and sex) are portrayed in a very poetical way.Both visual and acoustic poetry (the movie is narrated by the character "el garganta" as if reciting a somewhat complex yet beautiful poem). I've got only good things to say about this second directorial effort of Mr Banderas; lush cinematography, good music, nice pacing, and an ensemble cast whose performances shine like gold. This film is a true joy to your senses, brain and soul.

youth, sex,searches of life's sense, stories from the Franco's Spain, classic recipes about expectations, relation with family, love and need to escape. far to be a bad film, it seems have a specific public. the beauty of images, the atmosphere of Malaga, the references to American films about the same subject saves it to be only a movie by Antonio Banderas. because, more than an adaptation, it preserves and shows the spirit of a period. that is its basic virtue. and the remind of universal values. a beautiful film. not great, not impressive, only beautiful. and that could be enough. because it reminds more than presents.

i was thinking that maybe Antonio Banderas has spent a career in commercial movies to be able later on to develop his own projects. who knows maybe it's like this. yes, this movie was not made by an fine director, the pace is uneven, there are a lot of scene that could have been removed improving, not hurting , the movie. but the movie is not entirely pointless, it seems to have a sincere desire to say something to the viewer, especially with a very well mixed balance of music and images, those seem to be the most powerful moments of the movies. the plot , the story is to a certain degree irrelevant , this is a movie of powerful images, of details, of obsessions. The love scenes are a very small part of the movie, yet they are incredible details, nearly as in a soft porn movie, but this is not a limitation of this movie, but one of features. the bodies of the characters are explained in details, a flat stomach, a leg, a hand, a scar , eyes, aging hands. the movie is poetry and as poetry it refuses to be confined in the structures of novel, this is a movie of images and music, it's like the work of an Impressionist painter, maybe there are autobiographical elements, let's not forget that AB was born in Malaga in 1960, so he more or less would have been the age of the characters at the same time. All in all it's a good movie and it was worth watching it, I hope who reads this has enjoyed it already or will in the future.

Summer Rain , The English road or as the original title say "El camino de los ingleses " is a movie that takes artistic risks and of course that lead to mistakes . In the good part of things we have very good performances of the cast , great photography and a risky director . The screenplay is not conventional and the movie is almost experimental in parts but ... so what ? I agree with some reviews .Sometimes the narrator or voice over is used to much . But I think this movie don't try to fit in the conventional movie storytelling and it's not looking to be the mtv movie awards new sensation. But it's telling the story of young people in Malaga,Spain in the 70s trying to find their place in their world. I give it 7.

The beginning was interesting and promising. Dreamy and surreal. Great. BUT as the story progressed, it became an endless free fall. The use of voice over is too extensive (Somebody should teach Mr. Banderas about the value of silence. Not everything has to be blatantly explained) and tiring (even corny sometimes) and the script is simply ridiculous. It pretends to be intense and dramatic but it goes overboard towards the end, stripping it off of any dramatic feeling. It's laughable when it's supposed to be sad and it's unbelievable when it's supposed to be serious. Too bad for the actors, who deliver a good performance, in spite of such awful script. The photography is well done. But these two factors alone won't add up to a decent movie. That's why I rate it 1-awful.