Amanece, que no es poco

Absolutely loved it. Great. Absurd humour at its best.

"Unique" is an adjective that is too often employed to describe many things. In most cases, that is undeserved, but not in the case of Amanece, que no es poco. A tribute/parody of 60s Spanish comedy films, Amanece remains a truly peerless and funny movie experience.

Amanece, que no es poco subverts many tropes common in comedies from Francoist Spain in a very surrealistic and amusing way. Structured in vignettes, the film shows the peculiar lives of the inhabitants of a fictitious town in rural Spain. The people shown are involved in situations that are hilarious because no attempt whatsoever is made to give them a realistic feel.

The film is very recommendable to anyone who knows well enough Spanish culture. The only problem with this film is perhaps what I just mentioned, for someone not very familiar with Spanish culture, this may come off as a very bizarre and probably unfunny film.

This movie is probably one of the most interesting examples on surrealist comedy in the modern spanish history. It's a critic, acid portrait of what has been Spain under the dictatorship of General Franco, and specially critic with how is Spain actually - which is the same as before, but with other names. Being surrealist (or even totally unreal) it's hard to follow all the metaphors, analogies, hyperboles present in this movie, and besides the language barrier, it will be very hard to understand by non-spanish viewers in this context of being just a critic. Still, many of the critics can be applied to any of the "modern, free" societies all around.

But besides the "serious" part, this is also one of the best comedies, and most underrated, obscure and hardly known spanish movies. Its very special and unique sense of humor can only make you laugh again and again even about the saddest things. Continuous changes of points of view, jokes, absurd situations, killing topics and killer topics too. One of the most funny movies certainly, and worth it for a mindless laugh or for a insightful, deep view of the spanish society, or any other society for what it seems. If you have the opportunity, please watch it.

This movie is one of the funniest movies I have seen. Of course, it is in Spanish so if you do not speak Spanish it won't be as funny. But the whole premise behind it and the creativity of the writers is terrific. Everything from a policeman who is always drunk, to farmers who cultivate people. A must see if you're in the mood for a good laugh.

Well, this is certainly one of those movies that seize your attention from minute one and keep you there all through the show. It's in the best tradition of Spanish surreal humor (like Luis Garcia Berlanga's "Calabuch") but, unlike that one, is far more caustic with 80's Spanish reality and social elements. In fact, what is said about 80's Spain could also be a good description of many other societies of those years but, obviously, you would have to change the village priest or the Civil Guard or the Mayor (which, in one of the most far-fetched, yet brilliant utterances in the movie, is claimed to be "necessary, while we villains are contingent" - take a look at a dictionary to get that one) for equivalent figures in your own society. On the other hand, some of the characters in the movie are definitely peculiar and purposely surrealistic. For instance, the Argentinean guy who claim to be a writer but, each time he starts writing a new book it turns out to be a plagiarized copy of some Faulkner or Chekhov work. The Belgian group of tourists that visit the village with the very curious but determined purpose of hearing the Priest while celebrating mess because the man is so very skillful and wonderful in elevating the holy host towards the heavens. The public meeting ordered by the Mayor in front of the city hall in order to remember "what everybody was doing on June 24, 1947" and have a little flashback experience (obviously, the Belgian group disappears immediately since they weren't at the village a that time). Some others are pretty down-to-earth and perfectly recognizable, like the hackneyed bunch of American university youngsters with their sans-souci attitude and naive approach to everything that happens in the village. To cut a rather long story short, this movie is a whole new cinematic experience and in the good sense too. Highly recommendable.