So, I saw this streamed and it said it had subtitles but there were none. I usually skip films where I don't know the language. I know some French, Spanish, and German (better reading it than hearing it; I can read Mandarin but not speak it; usually the other way around), I think this film was in Spanish (but as stated: better reading it than hearing it), the title was in English but when they spoke, it sounded Spanish. Of course, after looking it up here it's a Spanish film (or Catalan, from Spain.)
For the type of film that it is (with a lot of dialogue in certain scenes, few in others, none in some) I think I followed it pretty well just by expressions, scenery, and composition. At least, I hope I did. From what I gathered: someone died in the beginning, I think it was a woman (wasn't actually paying attention at that brief moment) and then it played out like a Soap Opera with the bland composition and everything. Then it felt like it went nowhere or was taking its time to get wherever. I couldn't tell in the beginning, really.
This is not an action film; only based on the plot did I expect it would be. While there are some scenes that are 'actionesque', it's a drama. Looked like after a son lost his mother he had to take care of his ailing father who I presume: he didn't like. I was bored with the film by the 30 minute mark. It's like things were happening in the first 15 minutes then it slowed down to a crawl but with a scene of a brick through a window and another of, what looked like, a dead dog. Based on seeing other films in the same basic genre I imagined either the guy was a criminal and screwed something up or he knew something and someone was attempting to intimidate him for some reason. Of course, I didn't really care by then.
I can understand taking one's time to get to a catalyst but this genre isn't really that genre, you know? I mean, if a mystery, then fine, it could work but from my understanding of what I watched it seemed to be a character study of certain characters (the son, father, son's wife, etc.,) and if it wasn't trying to sell itself as a 'gangster' film then that seemingly could work. It also falls a bit because it plays out like a dramatic Soap Opera and all the drama those entail. The ending is easy to figure out so I won't give that away.
It wasn't necessarily bad but it just took way too long to get anywhere and when it finally got there I really didn't care. I felt like moving on to the next film without really placing too much thought on this one (though, I note the irony.)
For the type of film that it is (with a lot of dialogue in certain scenes, few in others, none in some) I think I followed it pretty well just by expressions, scenery, and composition. At least, I hope I did. From what I gathered: someone died in the beginning, I think it was a woman (wasn't actually paying attention at that brief moment) and then it played out like a Soap Opera with the bland composition and everything. Then it felt like it went nowhere or was taking its time to get wherever. I couldn't tell in the beginning, really.
This is not an action film; only based on the plot did I expect it would be. While there are some scenes that are 'actionesque', it's a drama. Looked like after a son lost his mother he had to take care of his ailing father who I presume: he didn't like. I was bored with the film by the 30 minute mark. It's like things were happening in the first 15 minutes then it slowed down to a crawl but with a scene of a brick through a window and another of, what looked like, a dead dog. Based on seeing other films in the same basic genre I imagined either the guy was a criminal and screwed something up or he knew something and someone was attempting to intimidate him for some reason. Of course, I didn't really care by then.
I can understand taking one's time to get to a catalyst but this genre isn't really that genre, you know? I mean, if a mystery, then fine, it could work but from my understanding of what I watched it seemed to be a character study of certain characters (the son, father, son's wife, etc.,) and if it wasn't trying to sell itself as a 'gangster' film then that seemingly could work. It also falls a bit because it plays out like a dramatic Soap Opera and all the drama those entail. The ending is easy to figure out so I won't give that away.
It wasn't necessarily bad but it just took way too long to get anywhere and when it finally got there I really didn't care. I felt like moving on to the next film without really placing too much thought on this one (though, I note the irony.)
