Total (TV Movie 1983) Poster

(1983 TV Movie)

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7/10
An abstract and offbeat film set in a far future with disconcerting happenings
ma-cortes28 March 2023
A surrealist movie with a lot of ridiculous and absurd incidents and all-Spanish-star-cast . Year 2598. Three days ago the end of the world to come to London , a small lost town with a Castilian atmosphere in middle of a barren landscape. A sheepherder named Lorenzo (Agustin González) recounts the extraordinary events that have heralded the apocalypse: the cows want to go to school, Doña Paquita (Maria Luisa Ponte) appears in the most unexpected places , then a miracle finder : Miguel Rellán comes to village to investigate the weird facts . While the pastor's son (Manuel Alexandre) suddenly ages and becomes older than his father.

A short film filmed in the 80s, which inaugurated the stage in the filmography of José Luis Cuerda based on absurd humor with several peculiar and outlandish characters. With ¨Total¨, this director who years later would stand out with ¨La Lengua de las Mariposas¨, begins a kind of very personal trilogy that completes with ¨Amanece que no es poco¨, following : ¨Asi en el cielo como en la tierra¨ or ¨As in heaven as on earth¨ and finally : ¨Tiempo después¨ (2018) that was set in 9177 in which world is limited to a high skycraper surrounded by small isolated slums and ruined shacks where live the lower classes , at the building lives the upper class and an absented-mind king governs along with a mayor, a management staff, while two Guardias Civiles watch and control by entering through the multitude of doors at the skycraper, and repeats Agustin González as a veteran shepherd caring his sheep across the scenario , being Cuerda's last feature film . Cuerda shows his special sense of humor in which blends social as well as political critique, life, death, religion, fight of classes and upheavals. This ¨Total¨ was shot after his debut feature ¨Pares y nones¨ and despite having numerous ups and downs , it has managed to win a group of followers who acclaim it as an absolute revolutionary comedy.

This ¨Total¨is a draft to ¨Amanece Que No es Poco¨ (Dawn that is not Little) and the subsequent films , all of them forming a quartet of surrealist films. This is an embarrassing flick providing Spanish star-studded, including a numerous cast with 20 protagonists, at least . Standing out the starring Agustín González, a sheep herder, tells us a series of extraordinary events that have heralded the end of the world . Being accompanied by a lot of familiar faces , being the following ones : Manuel Alexandre as his son , the baker who draws a gun on his customers , Eusebio Lázaro as the school teacher married to Alicia Sánchez ,María Luisa Ponte as the woman who suddenly appears here and there , Miguel Rellán as the alleged discoverer of miracles who falls in love for Enriqueta Carballeira ,José María Caffarel Alicia Sánchez , María Elena Flores married to blind Luis Ciges that miraculously recovers sight , Chus Lampreave , Carles Velat , Fernando Vivanco , among others. The picture relies heavily on repetitive situations, silly happenings, long speeches, sentences without sense and absurd deeds.

It packs an evocative cinematography by Juan Martín Benito , filmed in 3 municipalities of the Tierras Altas de Soria region : Oncala, Soria, San Pedro Manrique, Yanguas, Soria, Castilla y León. And atmospheric , enjoyable score by notorious composer José Nieto . 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. 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, and Tiempo despues (2018) , these movies provide the peculiar absurd humor of this good filmmaker Jose Luis Cuerda. His highest acclaimed film as a director was Lengua de las Mariposas that won various Goya Awards, prizes and nominations. Rating 7/10.
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London in the 26th century, as a small Spanish village
luis_de_pedro27 May 2004
I remember watching this TV movie when I was a child, on Christmas holidays. It seemed really funny to me, because of its surrealistic screenplay. When watching it again on video, it loses its initial surprise effect, but it keeps on being absurdly hilarious. It is somewhat a previous version of "Amanece que no es poco" by the same director. In fact, several actors play in both films, such as Luis Ciges. Jose Luis Cuerda tries to make us believe that in the 26th century, civilization has collapsed and London has turned into a small town that reminds too much a Castilian village, with the same way of life, whose inhabitants know that the end of times is about to happen, which produces abnormal and supernatural events.
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