Les avantages de voyager en train

This movie is very ambiguous, and it is up to the audience through the clues that the director is showing, to distinguish what is really happening and what is just a hallucination. Some instances are easy to spot, while others are quite difficult to detect. In fact one of the main narratives is involving borderline personality disorders such as schizophrenia and dissociative identity. The intricate narrative web is composed of stories that at first seem to be disconnected, but then eventually will join. I personally found it a bit challenging following certain threads. With that being said, the director managed to grab my undivided attention through the surreal cinematography. The lighting highlights really well the different contexts: dreamy when it comes to happy and carefree sequences, dark and gritty when there are tense moments. All these elements sparkled my curiosity to know more about the stories and their respective characters. The very last scene provides an open ending that allows the audience to give their own interpretation. I am not usually a fan of these kinds of conclusions, as I really want to see a film wrapping up and providing an actual resolution, but in this case, I think that it was made in a classy and polished way.

"Ventajas de Viajar en Tren" is treating some deep topics: serious mental disorders and abuses of different natures. Some sequences are very explicit. I usually do not have a problem with graphic content, but this time I have to say that I felt uncomfortable a few times because the portrayal of violence was plausible. The cast was phenomenal, particularly Pilar Castro who was able to convey a range of different emotions. I personally like when directors take risks and decide to make unconventional movies, with no fear of being honest and straightforward. This film would not have worked in any other way. My final rate is 7.5 out of 10.

Bunuel meets Borat with the story telling structure of the Saragossa Manuscript. If one of those three hints triggers something, this might be a strange and bizarre ride for you into the realm of Spanish post surreal movie making. Interesting cinematography, but not entirely consistent.

Different people's lives with hidden connections to each other Sinister characters of a troubled mind or real ones?

Probably one of the best Spanish films in the decade in my humble opinion. These twisted stories are much more than that: a fantastic hyperbolic metaphor of a toxic, claustophobic relationship, a Proust-like character's vision of the world, a reflection on fiction itself... All of it wrapped up in very dark humour and some quite shocking scenes. The aforementioned scenes might put off some viewers and I can absolutely understand. Having said that, we might have said the same thing about OEdipus' parricide, incest and self-mutilation and passed on a great story. Thank God we didn't, and I hope most viewers will give this fresh take on narration a chance.

Advantages of traveling by train (2019) is a film as daring as it is bizarre and, without a doubt, unclassifiable, developing strange stories involving three separate chapters, being apparently independent, Advantages of traveling by train tells the story of the editor Helga Pato (Pilar Castro), a woman in her forties who by chance meets the psychiatrist Ángel Sanagustín (Ernesto Alterio) on a train trip, who tells her (first chapter) the story of one of his patients. Ángel tells Helga the story of Martín Urales de Úbeda, an extremely dangerous paranoid patient obsessed, among other things, with garbage. Martín Urales (Luís Tosar), who enlisted in the army, was sent to fight in the Kosovo War where he met Dr. Linares, a determined and compassionate woman who, when trying to create a children's hospital to cure the damage of the war, She is forced to make a great deal: In exchange for having the hospital she wants, Linares must take one child a month to her benefactors to film adult and snuff films.

Winner of the best film award at the Feroz 2020 awards, it is an ensemble film that mixes suspense, comedy, drama, horror, gore and probably some other genres. It is an unclassifiable coming and going made up of several strangely connected stories, although they are very uneven, some being frankly unpleasant, others disturbing, giving rise to a discouraging result. One of the most surprising recent Spanish films in which thorny themes are mixed, such as male domination, Diogenes syndrome, human abuse and others, meanwhile it unexpectedly delves into dark tunnels that show terrifyingly funny passages, which They get lost in recesses that are the materialization of that interior in which we keep all the psychological breakdowns, traumas, fears, lies and half-truths that characterize us. Filmador Moreno goes from one place to another without losing the global identity, connecting the dots that apparently become loose, leaving things in suspense and then recovering them. The film is notable for its wonderful casting full of the best Spanish actors, giving good performances, with the three main actors standing out: Luis Tosar, Pilar Castro and Ernesto Alterio. Being accompanied by a very good supporting cast with many well-known faces, such as: Quim Gutiérrez, Belén Cuesta, Macarena García, Javier Godino, Javier Botet, Stéphanie Magnin, Ramón Barea, Alberto San Juan, Manuel Morón, among others.

The film plays with reality and fiction, with madness and sanity, and black humor, to translate the novel of the same title written by Antoni Orejudo. As debut director Aritz Moreno explains: "When I read the book, I saw a movie in my head: a peculiar and unusual film like the novel, but that is precisely what attracted me." The novel was adapted by Javier Gullón, who already did an excellent job adapting the initially unadaptable novel: The Duplicated Man by José Samarago, which director Dennis Villenueve turned into the film The Enemy. The film was original but unevenly made by Director Aritz Moreno in his debut film.