This movie is fantastic. It's about stories in stories in stories told by stories who change to stories... And so on. I don't wanna spoil, but I felt super amused, moved and inspired. But at the and. That doesn't matter. It's just a fictional film. So. Watch it. Or not. Have a good day.
100% - Critics
6.4Keywords: based on novel or bookfamily relationshipsmental illnessblack humormadrid, spain
Plot summary
Separated in three apparently independent chapters, Advantages of Travelling by Train tells the story of editor Helga Pato, a forty-something woman who by chance meets psychiatrist Ángel Sanagustín in a train ride, who tells her (first chapter) the story about one of his patients, Martín Urales, who enlisted in the army was sent to fight in the Kosovo War where he met Dr. Linares, a determined and compassionate woman that trying to create a child hospital to heal war damaged is forced to make a terrific deal: in exchange to have the hospital she wants, Linares must bring a child per month to her benefactors to film adult and snuff movies. Returning home after he was fired from army to attempt alert his superiors, Martín's aging father rejects the story and rejects his son, forcing Martín to the exile. In this point Sanagustín downs in a train station to buy candies but have no time to return, and Helga finds Sanagustín's folder in front of him. Reading the medical record of the patients (chapter two) Helga remembers her own story when, after to split with a famous writer, she met Emilio, an apparently quiet and calm man to start a relation with him, being gradually humiliated and degraded by a schizo Emilio obsessed to turn Helga in a dog and treating her as it. Drugging him to escape a few days with her mother and recover her freedom, Helga returns to find a delirious Emilio watching his own stool, getting enough reasons to intern him in a mental hospital just before to meet Sanagustín. Fascinated by the folder (chapter three),Helga decides to locate him and discover the secrets behind the folder's medical records, learning than the reality about Sanagustín and Martín is more twist and dangerous that she could imagine.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Javier Botet as Gárate
Quim Gutiérrez as Emilio
Luis Tosar as Martín Urales de Úbeda
Belén Cuesta as Amelia Urales de Úbeda
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 949.1 MB
1280*534
Spanish 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
Truly fresh and inspiring.
Reviewed by
Eternal darkness of the mind (not spotless)
Travelling on a train, you might get someone who is ... let's say interesting. Than again, maybe you are also very interesting yourself. So this movie that is assembled of many parts and seems detached from each other, is actually very much connected. But if you've seen more than one movie, you can assemble that yourself.
What you may not be able to decode, is the connections. And while you can spend your time guessing, you can also just enjoy the mayhem and madness that occurs. There are many dark moments amongst the very fun and light moments. This mixture may not be to your taste, but the movie does that balancing act quite nicely. The tone is tough to acoomplish, but if you yourself are not too sensible, the movie will achieve satisfying your needs ... which may be even in a weird way. Again not judging one way or the other. Sick humor and some depraved things aside, this really is tension filled ... with an ending that you may guess in a way ... but that still is spot on - even if you may not know what it actually means (you can decide that for yourself)
Reviewed by
Fresh, daring, poetic and absolutely bananas
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.