This is a remake done mostly right. Dani Rovira makes a good performance and the meaningful story is faithfully adapted to present day. It doesn't add anything else to the original story, but it serves damn well to what the show themathically has always been standing by.
3 Reviews
Nice episode/remake packing an interesting , twisted and bizarre script
ma-cortes9 November 2022
Spine-chilling psycho-drama with a lesser than credible premise about a delivery man who's little by little bogged down in the asphalt, including attractive performances. Effective and competently made Paula Ortiz telefilm being a remake to El Asfalto by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, released in 1966, it was a rare film , combining the talent of his father Narciso Ibáñez Menta and the drawings of Antonio Mingote, he gave birth to a nightmare Kafkaesque, now decently remade by Paula Ortiz . Baldo (Dani Rovira and Rut (Imma Cuesta) are a young couple expecting their first child . Baldo works as a delivery man and when he goes to deliver some pizzas, his bicycle sticks to the asphalt and along the way he is taunted and mocked by the people who observe him . It will be the beginning of a nightmare that heralds a terrible and creepy end .
The picture succeeds because the thriller , tension , as well as a finely written script delving into the human psyche in such extreme situation. Screenwriters Manuel Jabois and Rodrigo Cortés approach the story by changing the underlying enemy : if in Chicho Ibañez Serrador's version it was the bureaucracy and a mad humanity , this time it is lack of solidarity, the mass media and - that remains the same - people who don't want to know anything . But there is something that fails , that's why this could happen to any of us and in the 1966 version it happens to an anonymous and nameless man . The Kafkaesque element of the original version here is transformed into a buffoonery , something already pointed out by the music of Víctor Reyes, with people going from one place to another and trying to X-ray society : the indifferent local policemen , the otaku girl who seeks meaning in the absurd , the dissatisfied client , the unscrupulous journalist. All this could be part of Billy Wilder's ¨Ace in the hole¨, but both the director and the screenwriters lose the focus of the story : they fill the screen with a lot of people , the action runs over and the protagonists are diluted .In fact , this Asphalt or El asfalto (Oct 8, 2021) bears remarkable resemblance to ¨La Cabina¨(TV Short 1972) more than Narciso Ibañez Serrador's Asfalto . In spite of it , being a splendid and succint telefilm with acceptable acting . This is an astonishing, shocking, and amazing mavie , almost surrealist, containing some weird images and eerie happenings. It is sad as well as poetic story , but depressing and with important message. At an interpretive level, I have always considered that Dani Rovira can be a good comedian but he isn't a dramatic actor, in El Asfalto he shows effort but it is not credible ; Inma Cuesta is the opposite, all naturalness, and it is thanks to her that the closing is so emotional.
Paula Ortiz's direction is good, considering the limited space in which she moves, but the whole surreal movement ends up despairing because the events run over each other . Paula has directed some nice and thought-provoking films such as De tu ventana a la mía 2011, La novia 2015 and Across the River and Into the Trees 2021 . Rating El Asfalto : 6.5/10. Well worth watching for supernatural mystery lovers.
This ¨El asfalto (Oct 8, 2021)¨belongs to "Historias Para No Dormir" series , it is four independent horror stories that pay tribute to the classic format of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, directed by and starring well known names in Spanish cinema, such as Rodrigo Cortés, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Paco Plaza and Paula Ortiz directing "La broma", "El doble", "Freddy" and "El asfalto" respectively . The star-studded talent in front of and behind the camera are more than enough to carry this anthology series to 4 enjoyable viewing experiences.
The picture succeeds because the thriller , tension , as well as a finely written script delving into the human psyche in such extreme situation. Screenwriters Manuel Jabois and Rodrigo Cortés approach the story by changing the underlying enemy : if in Chicho Ibañez Serrador's version it was the bureaucracy and a mad humanity , this time it is lack of solidarity, the mass media and - that remains the same - people who don't want to know anything . But there is something that fails , that's why this could happen to any of us and in the 1966 version it happens to an anonymous and nameless man . The Kafkaesque element of the original version here is transformed into a buffoonery , something already pointed out by the music of Víctor Reyes, with people going from one place to another and trying to X-ray society : the indifferent local policemen , the otaku girl who seeks meaning in the absurd , the dissatisfied client , the unscrupulous journalist. All this could be part of Billy Wilder's ¨Ace in the hole¨, but both the director and the screenwriters lose the focus of the story : they fill the screen with a lot of people , the action runs over and the protagonists are diluted .In fact , this Asphalt or El asfalto (Oct 8, 2021) bears remarkable resemblance to ¨La Cabina¨(TV Short 1972) more than Narciso Ibañez Serrador's Asfalto . In spite of it , being a splendid and succint telefilm with acceptable acting . This is an astonishing, shocking, and amazing mavie , almost surrealist, containing some weird images and eerie happenings. It is sad as well as poetic story , but depressing and with important message. At an interpretive level, I have always considered that Dani Rovira can be a good comedian but he isn't a dramatic actor, in El Asfalto he shows effort but it is not credible ; Inma Cuesta is the opposite, all naturalness, and it is thanks to her that the closing is so emotional.
Paula Ortiz's direction is good, considering the limited space in which she moves, but the whole surreal movement ends up despairing because the events run over each other . Paula has directed some nice and thought-provoking films such as De tu ventana a la mía 2011, La novia 2015 and Across the River and Into the Trees 2021 . Rating El Asfalto : 6.5/10. Well worth watching for supernatural mystery lovers.
This ¨El asfalto (Oct 8, 2021)¨belongs to "Historias Para No Dormir" series , it is four independent horror stories that pay tribute to the classic format of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, directed by and starring well known names in Spanish cinema, such as Rodrigo Cortés, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Paco Plaza and Paula Ortiz directing "La broma", "El doble", "Freddy" and "El asfalto" respectively . The star-studded talent in front of and behind the camera are more than enough to carry this anthology series to 4 enjoyable viewing experiences.
Neither particularly funny, nor scary, nor exciting
marcopieper16 August 2022
Neither particularly funny, nor scary, nor exciting. You at least hope for a resolution as to why it happens, or why it only happens to him, and don't get even that.
But the frustrating thing is that hardly anyone behaves like a normal person, which gives the whole thing a kind of dream like quality. But even this aspect leaves one unsatisfied, because this dreamlike thing isn't really developed, but is simply one of many side flavors of the story, all of which are never more than the sum of their parts.
Overall, the story has the flair of a student group project, where time was not enough in the end to make an interesting story out of a relatively interesting premise.
But the frustrating thing is that hardly anyone behaves like a normal person, which gives the whole thing a kind of dream like quality. But even this aspect leaves one unsatisfied, because this dreamlike thing isn't really developed, but is simply one of many side flavors of the story, all of which are never more than the sum of their parts.
Overall, the story has the flair of a student group project, where time was not enough in the end to make an interesting story out of a relatively interesting premise.
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