El hueso

Silly and boastful comedy by Antonio Giménez Rico with all-Spanish-star-cast who give decent interpretations. The craftsman Giménez Rico realizes another acceptable film full of sourness , antics , fun happenings and brief social critical . Bustling comedy with an excellent plethora of Spanish players and an absurd screenplay , being based on a story written by director Antonio Giménez Rico himself , and collaboration of his usuals, Angel Llorente, Fernando Moreno and José María Otero . In a small provincial Spanish city, whose glorious historical past is present, not only in its streets and buildings, but even in the way of being and behaving of its inhabitants. There one day appears in the news section of the local newspaper, a piece of news that will decisively affect the routine life of the citizens: one of the bones, specifically the 'metacarpal bone' of the little finger of the left hand of the greatest local hero, Don Nuño Pérez de Gormaz, known by historians as Don Nuño the Battler, is in the hands of a French noble. His mortal remains, which lie in one of the most impressive monuments in the city, are not complete. A 'bone' is missing, which will have to be recovered, no matter what the cost, since it is the honor of the city that is at stake. And the entire city will vibrate at such an affront. All citizens, with the authorities and living forces at their head, will abandon their usual tasks, to recover what they consider a symbol of their past and tradition. In order to recover the bone at any cost, the city council approves a budget of 20,000 duros. And in this game their little selfishness and pettiness will be unleashed, their various ways of thinking will emerge, always disguised as the most honorable and sincere citizen love. A journalist , Antonio Fernández (Cassen) finds out that in France there is a bone of one of the most illustrious ancestors of the people in the Middle Ages. Antonio is assigned by the mayor (José Franco) of the city to recover the bone at any cost, and while he falls in love with his daughter (Charo López) , but she does not pay much attention to him. From now on, everyone agrees that the bone should return to the town.

Sympathetic iconoclastic story of Spanish historical cinema and a peculiar vision of the sixties through a story of a small town, showing the social customs, hypocrisy and repression at the time. The film marks the debut of cinephile, critic and culture lover Antonio Giménez Rico Rico. This is a Spanish coral film, though the actual starring is the always likeable Cassen, dealing with a merciless denounce to hypocrite society located at a little town , and full of ingenious but also ridiculous humor , including relentless social critical but without malevolent intention. A light , rip-roaring comedy , easy to watch , and easier to forget . It is shot in real embarrassment , including absurd scenes and being next to caricature more than realism . In the flick there's especially busy comedy , ironical humor , frantic pace , joy , amusing gags , rowdy satire , noisy hustle and social critique , being shot in José Luis Garcia Berlanga wake. Furthermore , it contains certain confusion , bustle and relies heavily in exaggerated mayhem; being in anyway clearly inferior to Berlanga's masterpieces. With an adequate production, professionally done, without unnecessary luxuries, deploying an effective, and intelligent cast in which a brilliant Cassen stands out, and a young Charo López, along with first-class secondary actors, such as: José Franco, José Orjas, José María Caffarel, Alfonso del Real, Emilio Laguna, Lola Lemos, María Elena Flores, Emiliano Redondo Rafaela Aparicio, Laly Soldevila, Florinda Chico, Francisco Merino, Rafael Hernández, and Charo Soriano . There is a corrosive sense in the setting, and it turns out to be sufficiently healthy, witty, hilarious and funny. Well paced in a classical way, with plans at eye level, in an American plan. The main and support actors stand out under swift direction of Garcia Sánchez very far from the tenderness that carried out in previous works, including a bitter , pessimistic mirror on the Spanish society by that time . We can find very fun roles , all of them caricatures and mirrors of the Spanish society of the sixties , concerning the national reality in ironical and critical style and with a lot of known interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . There is also an evocative cinematography, though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary because of the film copy is washed-out, good production design by Wolfgang Burman, an adequate cinematography and a subtle, diverse and very modern music .

He pic offers a colorful and evocative photography by Jose Luis Alcaine who was first cinematographer to use fluorescent tube as "key" lightning and deemed to be one of the best Spanish cameramen . Alcaine frequently works with Pedro Almodóvar , Bigas Luna and Vicente Aranda , as he has photographed ¨The skin I live in¨ , ¨The bad education¨ , ¨Volver¨ , ¨Women in the verge of a nervous breakdown¨, among others . Here he shows splendidly the enjoyable exteriors from Shot on location in Alcalá de Henares , Boadilla del Monte , Madrid . Atmospheric and stirring musical score by Carmelo Bernaola . The motion picture was being decently directed by veteranregularly directed by Antonio Gimenez Rico , a director of great quality . Antonio Giménez Rico was born in Burgos , Castilla y León where he often shoots films . He is a director and writer, especially known for ¨Tres Palabras¨ (1993) , ¨Hotel Danubio¨ (2003) and ¨Jarrapellejos¨ (1988) . He's an expert on dramas as ¨Forteen stations¨ , ¨Spanish soldier¨ and ¨Three words¨ . His speciality turns out to be adaptations based on prestigious novelist Miguel Delibes as ¨ Portrait of family¨ (1976), ¨The vote of Mister Cayo¨ and ¨The rats¨ . He also directed TV Series as ¨Crónicas De Un Pueblo¨ (1971) , ¨Página Sucesos¨ , ¨Los Libros¨ and ¨Mascara Negra¨ . One of his best films results to be ¨Hotel Danubio¨ starred by Santiago Ramos and Carmen Morales , a remake to classic ¨Los Peces Rojos¨ . Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable.