Another excellent film by the notorious filmmaker Luis Garcia Berlanga who shows the lively as well as sad existence of a middle-aged man . Black comedy set in Catalunya with amusing situations , silly roles and far-fetched events . Adding a relentless critical to Catholic religion , sour urban conventionality and against the extreme religious practices . It deals with Leo (José Luis López Vázquez) who travels to a Mediterranean town , Sitges , with his elderly mummy (Xavier Vive) in order to marry his girlfriend Loli (Laly Soldevilla) . There , Leo meets her two brothers , the rogue Pepito (José María Prada) and the amnesic Carlos (Manuel Alexandre). However , the funny and open minded women from Northern Europe make Leo reconsider his plans , being overwhelmed by the troublesome circumstances , he then gets involved into a grotesque mockery .
This is an enjoyable story that contains busy comedy , humor , frantic pace , blatant critical against the Spanish repression , amusing gags , rowdy satire , noisy hustle and results to be pretty entertaining . Black humor gives way to strange as well as hilarious situations , closely followed by embarrassing events that doesn't take long in coming to a head in an ending pandemonium . It is so excessive and outrageous that blends mayhem , as well as a funny script by the prestigious Rafael Azcona , along with the same Berlanga , full of dark humor , entertainment , and exciting situations . This is not the typical comedy by that time , here there is a brief social denounce about the repression and excessive religion during Franco dictatorship . The picture displays a sour critique to ¨Landismo¨ sub-genre , this peculiar genre starred by Alfredo Landa . This is a funny portrait of a repressed man who arrives in a touristic Mediterranean spot , surrounded by Swedish girls in bikinis , as he is living an existential drama when he becomes involved with a ¨Amour Fou¨ to a beautiful Irish girl and suddenly his mother dies , being trapped into a twisted mess . Awesome interpretation by José Luis López Vazquez as a lascivious 40-ish suitor , now forced to face the death his mother and overwhelmed by the circumstances as well as obligated by his girlfriend , all of them set up an uproar as well as pretentious caper to hide her . This issue about a deceased parent and whose family carries out an astute plan to seem to be alive has been adapted other times in the Spanish cinema , such as : ¨Carne De Gallina¨ (2002) by Javier Maqua ,¨Amador¨ (2010) by Fernando León De Aranoa , and ¨Carmina o Revienta¨ (2012) by Paco León . The movie displays a Spanish secondary star-studded who give top-drawer performances , such as : Laly Soldevilla , José María Prada , and Manuel Alexandre . Furthermore , the prolific secondary Víctor Israel , and as a stiff-upper-lipped priest the great Luis Ciges who is Berlanga's ordinary .
Direction by Luis Garcia Berlanga is very good , he shows his skill for edition , realizing long shots with crowd who moves easily . Berlanga filmed several polemic movies during the 50s , all of them were beset by difficulties with the censors caused by real critical to social stratum such as ¨Bienvenido Mister Marshall¨ (1953) , a very good film which tended not to be very well received by the censor for its acidity and considered to be one of the best Spanish films of the history ; however, his strong portrait of Spanish society , plenty of sharpness , didn't please the pro-Franco authorities . His next joint venture was ¨Los Jueves, Milagro¨ (1957), it was modified by the censors and delayed for several years before its eventual release . Later on , Berlanga made one of his best films ¨Placido¨ (1961) masterfully played by Cassen , this is the film debut for the great producer Alfredo Matas and received an Oscar nomination in 1963 , being well-received at the International Festivals , reviewing the useless charity , it's a sublime film but with censorship realized by this great maestro Luis Garcia Berlanga . He continued filming other interesting pictures as in 1973 he went to Paris to begin filming ¨Grandeur nature¨ with Michael Piccoli , another problematic film , focusing this time on the fetishism of a man who falls in love with a doll . Several years later , after Franco's death, he filmed a trilogy comprising ¨La Escopeta Nacional¨ (1978), ¨Patrimonio Nacional¨ (1981) and ¨Nacional III¨ (1982), where he clarified the evident disorders in the Spanish upper , middle-class upon being confronted with a new political status quo , realizing a sour denounce of the Spanish society . Berlanga ulteriorly shot a peculiar film titled ¨La Vaquilla¨ (1985) plenty of Spanish-star-cast and set in the Spanish Civil War , resulting to be the first time dealing with this convulsive period in comedy style . Following the same themes, he went on filming coral films such as ¨Moros and Cristianos¨ and ¨Todos a Carcel¨ (1993) that won three Goya Awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Sound ; being his final film : ¨Paris Tombuctu¨. ¨Viva Los Novios¨ rating : 7/10 , Good . Essential and indispensable watching for Berlanga aficionados . Better than average and well worth seeing .
