Gerardo Herrero is among the riskiest spanish cinema producer in the last years, who in addition has insisted in getting his own career as director, though so far much less lucky. "Las razones de mis amigos" is his last one as a director, and the best one, with no doubt. With screenplay from the more and more prestigious scripter Ángeles González-Sinde ("La Buena estrella o Segunda Piel"), adapted from the Belén Gopegui's novel "La conquista del aire", "Las razones de mis amigos" tell us the economic and social mature (not so much personal) path of three friends of around thirty years old, and the progressive y painful adaptation of their way of thinking and their love relationships to the new circumstances. As in "Malena es un nombre de tango" o "Territorio comanche", and despite the new scripter, Gerardo Herrero tells us back a fiction story with documental style, that is, without almost dramatic suspense, with no central element on which the rest of little stories the whole story is composed of is based on, which gives the story much credibility (As the life is), but none of dramatic suspense at all. It would be interesting to know whether the director do it on purpose or it is just a fault which he cannot avoid. "Las razones de mis amigos", nevertheless, is pure movie of characters and dialogs, and both of them are excellent (except the dialogs in the central part, which become a bit repetitive), and that is what is definitely different to their previous films. There is a respectful progression to the features of all characters, who provides through their intelligent conversations not more than necessary information for the spectators to be able to understand what is happening between them without telling us directly: that is, how they are approaching more and more to the social model whose rebuff was originally the strongest link between them.
An absolutely brilliant final sequence, with false happy end included, gets to make up the trend towards academicism of the rest of the film.
An absolutely brilliant final sequence, with false happy end included, gets to make up the trend towards academicism of the rest of the film.