3 reviews
A boy named Ramiro (Oriol Vila) attempts to forget a girl called Andrea (Bárbara Lennie) , with whom he had a deep love relationship . But this past story is far from forget . This situation is difficult to bear , especially when the girl just separated comes back again in each of the memories of his life and he feels that "all the love songs talk about me" . The memoirs of his girl come once again , associated with his past and future experiences . Along the way , Ramiro works in his uncle's (Ramon Fontserè) bookshop.
This sad and candorous movie simply reflects on something that seems to have been lost in the world of cinema : melancholy and unselfconsciousness . The nostalgia that is suffered when looking back and not forward . It is an honest and unpretentious film full of freshness and naturality , but really boring at times, which moves us with a sincerity and genuinenessness to which we are unfortunately not accustomed . And that, therefore , clashes with the times. This is a difficult story of a boy who tries to forget a girl, especially because she, from whom he has just separated, returns to his memory once again. This situation reaches such a point that the boy has the feeling that all his love songs are about her . Trueba builds some decent story and surrounds it with protagonists throwing here and there some brooding and thoughtful sentences . And that the subject begins well, with courage and intelligence enough , betting on a directing style that is not original but at least different for what comes to be Spanish cinema: close-ups , fixed camera, some elegant movements . The actors are not terrible in almost any case , but their characters are poorly written. Everything is so artificial , it is so faked , that in the end it works more as a parody than as a generational portrait of the last generation that communicated by means of written letter , being subsequently mobile phone and Whatsapp , the new means of communication and relations among us . As for the direction , Jonás opts for long shots framed with great intention and sentiment , in which he lets his roles speak and be themselves , achieving fine and realistic performances. A strong point of the film is the secondary characters, which are used as a humorous counterpoint, and that's why the humor is constantly dropped despite the sensitivity of the main story . The cast , formed mostly by unknown actors , giving natural interpretations , such as Oriol Vila , Ramon Fontserè, Ángela Cremonte, Bruno Bergonzini , Valeria Alonso , Daniel Castro , standing out the always great Bárbara Lennie and brief acting by Eloy Azorín and Miriam Giovanelli.
The motion picture was originally written and directed by Jonás Trueba and it won a number of awards and nominations . Jonás was born in 1981 in Madrid , and he's son of Cristina Huete and the great filmmaker Fernando Trueba , the latter has made notorious films such as Opera Prima, Sal Gorda, La reina de España , Too Much , El artista y la modelo , Belle Epoque , Sueño del Mono Loco , Chico y Rita , many of them following the style of the "comedia madrileña" and he had major success with Sé infiel y no mires con quién . While his son Jonás Trueba is a new writer and director , known for La virgen de agosto (2019), La reconquista (2016) and Los ilusos (2013) . And this Every Song Is About Me or Todas las canciones hablan de mí (2010) that results to be mediocre and boring picture , rating : 4.5/10 .
This sad and candorous movie simply reflects on something that seems to have been lost in the world of cinema : melancholy and unselfconsciousness . The nostalgia that is suffered when looking back and not forward . It is an honest and unpretentious film full of freshness and naturality , but really boring at times, which moves us with a sincerity and genuinenessness to which we are unfortunately not accustomed . And that, therefore , clashes with the times. This is a difficult story of a boy who tries to forget a girl, especially because she, from whom he has just separated, returns to his memory once again. This situation reaches such a point that the boy has the feeling that all his love songs are about her . Trueba builds some decent story and surrounds it with protagonists throwing here and there some brooding and thoughtful sentences . And that the subject begins well, with courage and intelligence enough , betting on a directing style that is not original but at least different for what comes to be Spanish cinema: close-ups , fixed camera, some elegant movements . The actors are not terrible in almost any case , but their characters are poorly written. Everything is so artificial , it is so faked , that in the end it works more as a parody than as a generational portrait of the last generation that communicated by means of written letter , being subsequently mobile phone and Whatsapp , the new means of communication and relations among us . As for the direction , Jonás opts for long shots framed with great intention and sentiment , in which he lets his roles speak and be themselves , achieving fine and realistic performances. A strong point of the film is the secondary characters, which are used as a humorous counterpoint, and that's why the humor is constantly dropped despite the sensitivity of the main story . The cast , formed mostly by unknown actors , giving natural interpretations , such as Oriol Vila , Ramon Fontserè, Ángela Cremonte, Bruno Bergonzini , Valeria Alonso , Daniel Castro , standing out the always great Bárbara Lennie and brief acting by Eloy Azorín and Miriam Giovanelli.
The motion picture was originally written and directed by Jonás Trueba and it won a number of awards and nominations . Jonás was born in 1981 in Madrid , and he's son of Cristina Huete and the great filmmaker Fernando Trueba , the latter has made notorious films such as Opera Prima, Sal Gorda, La reina de España , Too Much , El artista y la modelo , Belle Epoque , Sueño del Mono Loco , Chico y Rita , many of them following the style of the "comedia madrileña" and he had major success with Sé infiel y no mires con quién . While his son Jonás Trueba is a new writer and director , known for La virgen de agosto (2019), La reconquista (2016) and Los ilusos (2013) . And this Every Song Is About Me or Todas las canciones hablan de mí (2010) that results to be mediocre and boring picture , rating : 4.5/10 .
What a strong debut! Jonas Trueba shows great confidence in handling that tenuous place in loving someone else from a place of ego without making our hero Ramiro (Oriol Vila) obnoxious or completely pathetic. The acting is great all around. There's a nice influence of Francois Truffaut going on with a few, sparse but insightful moments via voice over and an active camera that moves to the great jazzy score by Perico Sambeat. It builds toward a wonderful open- ended finale, following a heartbreaking monologue by Ramiro to his unreachable(?) love Andrea (Bárbara Lennie), which melds nicely with Sambeat's pièce de résistance: a chaotic yet moving instrumental. One of the best endings I've seen in a long time. It also recalls (500) Days of Summer without jumping back and forth through time. There are also jabs at other kinds of relationships -- from the purely superficial to the naive to apathetic-- and, bonus, lots of great jokes about the book store world where Ramiro works. This is a rich, well-drawn out film that hardly ever slacks, as it never compromises what a complex, inner problem it's trying to express. You should come in ready to tune into that wavelength and have some experience behind you to get these moments. Maybe I'm seeing at the right time.