When it comes to social comentary this movie is right on the money. While this obviously is playing in the distant (or near?) future, this also is depicting the present and past and class structures. It is absurd and funny at the same time. It also is quite light.
At the same time some of its themes are quite heavy. Which is to be expected. The movie is surreal and strange to a degree that might annoy you, if you are not into this sort of thing. Maybe watch the trailer to be sure you can handle it ... if you do, there is much fun to be had
5.8Plot summary
Distant future. The year is 9177, century up, century down, and the entire world has been reduced to a single skyscraper in the middle of a desert in the middle of nowhere. In this Representative Building live the elite of the society and the living forces of it, composed by the absent-minded king, the mayor, his chief of staff, and beauty girl Méndez, the two remaining civil guards Don Antonio and Morris, the two remaining police, Arriondas and Pozueco, the only remaining Admiral Pacheco, hairdressers Justo and Agustín, bartender Pastrana, an old shepherd, priest Father Mirraño, friar Fray Vicente, nun Sor Sacramento, and janitor Eufemiano. In a dense forest outside the Building live the rest of the world in a camp full of poverty and empty of resources. In this depressive place lives José María, a rude man who dreams of selling the tasty lemonade he makes. But when he moves to the Building, he is stopped by Eufemiano, who meets the mayor looking to warn him about the anti-natural that an unemployed has a job. In the Building things are complicated: Justo, tired of not having clients in his barber shop due to the fame of Agustín and his poems, kills Agustín dominated by the jealousy, but the king absolves Justo of the crime and he blames José María by simple caprice. Denying the guilt, José María resists arrest and returns to the Building to sell lemonade, where he meets Méndez, who examines the lemons to test the quality. When the king decrees that Méndez has been chosen to be the mother of a future prince to continue the dynasty, Méndez joins José María and his best friend Galbarriato, who falls in love with her, in a riot about the rights of the unemployed in the camp. While Justo is visited by Agustín's ghost, Fray Vicente and Sor Sacramento join the revolution and Don Antonio and Morris try to balance the situation in an attempt at peace, José María, Galbarriato, and Méndez start the revolution of the camp against the Building, but the king has an idea to suffocate the riot in the most unexpected way.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 917.79 MB
1280*534
Spanish 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
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The future is ... now
Reviewed by
A surrealist movie with a lot of ridiculous and absurd incidents and all Spanish star cast
An abstract and embarrassing film set in a far future, the year 9177. World is limited to a high skycraper in middle of a barren landscape, surrounded by small isolated slums and ruined shacks where live the lower classes . At the building lives the upper class and governs an absented-mind king, a mayor, a management staff, while two Guardias Civiles watch and control by entering through the multitude of doors at the skycraper. Other peculiar characters are the hairdressers, a veteran shepherd caring his sheep across the corridors , a bartender, a nun, a priest and a man who attempts to sell lemonade. Then, there takes place a riot, and the hapless people living outskirts the building enter at the skycraper to reckoning against the powerful rulers.
This is a disconcerting flick providing Spanish star-studded, including a numerous cast with 20 protagonists, at least. Standing out the following ones : Roberto Alamo, Blanca Suarez, Iñaqui Ardenaz, Manolo Solo, Antonio de la Torre . And Tv stars and presenters as Berto Romero, Eva Hache, Andreu Buenafuente who also produced. And other secondaries in brief appearances as Secun De La Rosa, Gabino Diego, Saturnino Garcia, Carlos Areces and a singer : Miguel Rios, among others. Director Jose Luis Cuerda shows his special sense of humor in which blends social as well as political critique, life, death, religion, fight of classes and upheavals. The picture relies heavily on repetitive situations, silly happenings, long speeches, sentences without sense and absurd deeds. This film belongs to a surrealist trilogy made in similar style : first the successful Amanece que no es poco 1989 and Asi en el cielo como en la tierra 1995, these movies provide the peculiar absurd humor of this good filmmaker Jose Luis Cuerda.
It packs a luxurious and colorful cinematography by Pau Esteve. And lively, enjoyable score by notorious composer Lucio Godoy. This film was written by Jose Luis Cuerda who also produced and directed, as usual. Cuerda is an expert professional, being his film debut Pares y Nones, a typical Madrid comedy. He subsequently made El Bosque Animado with writings by Rafael Azcona and himself, being based on Wenceslao Fernandez Florez novel. He followed shooting drama : La viuda del Capitan Contreras and more and more comedies as Tocando Fondo and La Marrana. His biggest hits correspond as a producer, as he produced for Alejandro Amenabar : Tesis and Abre Los Ojos. His highest acclaimed film as a director was Lengua de las Mariposas that won various Goya Awards, prizes and niminations. Rating 5.5/10. Passable.
Reviewed by
A Spanish Monty Python
It is beyond my comprehension why this film has such poor rating. The more we watched, the more we laughed. The value of this film resides in the dialogues: witty, silly, smart, deliciously absurd and full of allusions and friendly wink-wink's to the connoisseurs of Spanish literature. It is an adorable pastiche, a full-fledged parody, an epitome of the absurd. Don't expect it to be sci-fi- as it is presented on HBO-Go. It's (just) a silly comedy, touching on a plethora of weak spots of the contemporary society, of us as individuals. The post cards in the lobby of the only building left on Earth-who do they send them to? The sheep happily grazing on the rooftop of the only building left. The utter disruption caused by the unemployed man who starts selling lemonade, ending in everybody selling it to who knows who! The two victims of the trigger-happy priest exchanging impressions on incoming death. The group of young rebels, acting anything but rebel. All representatives of institutions in power left in twos, like in Noah's arch. A king acting as the idiot of the village... I'm smiling as I write this review. Well done, guys!