User Reviews

"Alcarràs" is a new 2022 movie, a co-production between Italy and Spain, even if story-wise and almost everything else, also the language of course, the focus seems to be entirely on Spain here. This also applies to who made this movie as the woman in charge was Carla Simón, a relatively young filmmaker still as she is easily under 40, but fairly prolific nonetheless in terms of television work, short films and this one here is also not her first theatrical release. Her co-writer was Arnau Vilaró and the two have also worked together in the past already on other projects. This film runs for almost two hours including credits and received a really strong critical reception. Taking that into account, it feels almost a bit surprising that the awards recognition was not too massive. Then again, many filmmakers would kill to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival like this one here did, but at this point that is the only win so far and not a lot will follow anymore either I think. Nomination-wise, it is pretty similar. The film scored a nomination in Australia, but it surprises me especially that there is nothing in terms of awards attention in Spain itself for the outcome here. For me personally, it was a bit of a Golden Bear week because I also watched another film that won said trophy, even if that happened many years earlier, but still in the new millennium. I cannot say a lot about the cast, but I think they did okay with what they were given overall. Probably my loss. I watch Spanish films here and there, but their faces did not really feel familiar to me. Now I checked some of the profiles and the background and I know why. The director apparently cast actual farm workers to play the characters here for authenticity reasons. I am not sure this was really necessary, but still makes kinda sense. It is really an ensemble performance and there is no lead in here that is more dominant than the others. The one who comes closest maybe would be Jordi Pujol Dolcet then who plays Quimet, the head of the family. His physical presence was nice. I would not mind seeing him in other films, but who knows how many, if any at all, from the cast members will keep having a career or just go back to farm work afterwards. If so, then it was nonetheless an interesting journey for them I am sure. One they will always remember.

As you see from my rating, I think that the good was more frequent in this movie than the weak, let alone bad, but I still think it was a bit of a tough project. It was extremely changing and crucial times for the characters, but nonetheless this is a film where not a lot happens and almost two hours is massively long for this. So I think that, even if the film succeeds nicely in terms of depicting the state of things, there were some lengths in here. Probably no filmmaker could have really turned it into a 100% smooth watch. I still liked the approach and outcome on other occasions. Many of those included the children. There was a natural innocence to all of this, no matter if we are talking about the scene when a grown-up is angry because one boy was lifted up in the air with the help of some farm vehicle or if we are talking about tooth fairy references or if we are talking about small children running from neighbors because of what they did with/to their harvest/property. But also the teenage daughter gets a solid amount of screen time. Pay attention to how normalcy prevails here as well. She is definitely not the prettiest from the bunch or the most talented or a natural leader as we see when she shows some dance moves with the help of her friend(s). Or when she is there on the bed singing or saying a certain line from a fashion-related program or something so many times. She really must have loved that quote. This is supposed to depict people like you and me for the most part and this approach to authenticity is where the film works best and also why many viewers and critics enjoyed it. Maybe also because the grown-ups are sometimes acting like children themselves, especially the character of Quimet I mentioned earlier already, no matter if we are talking about his anger or shenanigans when it goes against the man who is about to take their land away from them. He sees this man as a bad guy, but we from the neutral perspective see him as somebody with his own interests that are also not necessarily bad if we are looking at the solar energy approach of course. And it is also not the case that everybody in the family is really devastated and heartbroken. Could very well be that the younger ones end up leaving for the city one day instead of farming apricots.

On the other end of the age scale, there is the old man, the one who gets blamed for not having anything in writing that would help them keep the property. Times were different back when he was in his prime. Words had more relevance than contracts. Or at least more than they do today. For the old man, I also found it a bit sad to see how everything must come to an end. I am not talking about his life here as he does not die during the film, but I am sure it must have been painful for him, maybe more than for all the others, to go through this ordeal, especially when he is also at least partially blamed for how things developed. There is talk about him not really understanding everything anymore what is going on and there is no proper elaboration to what extent this is true, but to me it seems that he clearly understood a lot still. Understood enough. In any case, it was not nice at all there from the women to talk like that when he was just next door and the door was even open. A bit of a sweet move then when a younger character closes said door. There are also moments that did not win me over too much like the demonstration where the young man joins Quimet and where they say they are not happy with the money they get. This is an important subject too of course, but I think it did not add a lot here and could have been left out with the film fully focusing on the personal fate of the family instead. Another scene was the dead rabbit reference. Of course, it was not nice to see the dead animals, no matter if they were actually really dead or just set decoration, but still. Also seemed on one occasion doubtful to me how the young fella so easily manages to kill the rabbit from relatively far away and also how sure/arrogant he was that he would hit it. This I could have done without and also without the scene how they take the corpses to the antagonist's doorstep. The drinking contest involving Quimet I did not dislike as strongly as some of the stuff I mentioned before, but I still would not have missed this sequence if it had not made it into the movie.

I think this surely could have been kept at 100 minutes without losing too much quality. The ending is pretty sobering and real then too. If you hope for a miraculous turn of events, you will be disappointed. Again, documentary-style. They lose the plants on the area there and this is almost the last shot of the film, how the machines do their work and our "heroes" are watching them and the surely (for them) depressing situation. As I said, this was almost the last shot, so it was really a pretty unhappy ending. If destruction breeds creation here, we do not find out about. In the sense of if they find a new place to be. Speaking of endings, I am also getting closer to the ending of my review here. What else is there to add? I struggled a bit with the grown-up female characters here and there and they did not do too much for me, especially the blonde was a bit difficult to deal with most of the time because honestly it felt like all she really did was complain about literally everything and she was constantly moaning. That was no strong female character writing. I mean it made sense to some extent, especially when she was talking about Quimet and his regular outbursts and shenanigans, but still for me she overall felt like a really unlikeable character as a consequence. That is all then. I give the outcome here a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, but I never felt this was a great film or even close to being a great film that I could give 4 stars out of 5 and thus consider it among the best the year had to offer. Nonetheless I am curious how Simón's career will continue and if we will ever see her direct something in Hollywood maybe even. And also how the actors' or "actors" careers here will continue in the future. "Alcarràs", not to be mistaken for the rising tennis professional, is a good film that deserves to be seen, but seeing it on the small screen is enough.

Spain's entry in the Best International Feature category for the the 2022 Oscars, "Alcarras" tells of how a family of Catalonian peach farmers are forced from their land by the son of the former landowner after his death and of how this divides them, the title taken from the region in which they live. If you think the superb performances of the entire cast are wholly naturalistic it's because director Carla Simon cast non-professionals in every role but one. The result is a largely documentary approach and a film that might have once been directed by Ermanno Olmi.

Despite the dramatic potential of the subject matter for a lot of the time not a great deal happens. We simply observe these people struggling with the situation in which they find themselves though it's not all gloom and doom. This is an extended family that knows how to play as well as work and the scenes involving the youngest children are among the best of their kind in recent cinema. Unfortunately the pace of the film proves too leisurely for us to feel as emotionally involved as perhaps we should. That said, both Jordi Pujol Dolcet and Albert Bosch are superb as the father and son finally united by the very thing that divides them and there is no denying the beauty of the bittersweet ending.

This stellar drama, is without a doubt, one of the best films of 2022, and a highly emotional, sometimes funny and ever well put together achievement by a great director.

The actors all do an incredible job, as one would expect from such a talented and great cast, and everyone of all ages give it their all. The script accompining it is, of course, no less excellent, and it feels truly authentic and expertly written.

The cinematograpy, cutting and editing is incredible, and the film is all around very beautifully put together, great shooting, great lightning and very impressive imagery.

Definitely highly recommended for any lover of film!