The new coach (Federico Luppi) of the basketball team of Lugo arrives from the US , along with his litte daughter , previous their exile from Uruguay. He really knows nothing about training a basketball team , posing as an expert trainer , so he keeps the former coach (Antonio Resines) on and in the meantime attempts to learn from videos and books , but his real reason for coming to Spain was to find out about an old lost love (Charo López) .
This is an interesting but slow-moving drama concerning on a few roles who suffer the consequences of their pasts . The script takes us into the human reality on these characters, victims of their own inner ghosts , escapes and distresses . However, the roles are flat or mere caricatures , containing some beautiful exteriors and good photography by Hans Burmann . But, regardless of that, what I liked the most is seeing the Spanish basketball league games at the time . The story takes as its starting point the hardly credible fact that a coach with no known references and coming from overseas , takes the reins of a team from the elite division of Spanish basketball. The rhythm, slow and tiring, is saved when we approach this film as a quasi-historical document of basketball at the time . For Galician people, viewing it is highly recommended and viewing it will probably not be exempt from a certain nostalgic sensation, especially in the images in which the Lugo Gran Teatro can be seen, in all its splendor, now in ruins .After 37 years, this film is seen with a certain nostalgia, which, although it uses basketball as the background of the story, brings back good memories to any fan of the sport of basketball . In fact , Jimmy Wright, real and emblematic player of the Breogán , Lugo Basketball at the time , allows himself a small and special significance role. And several professional players from that era can be seen in the movie.
The story is interesting, without being exceptional, and stars Federico Luppi who limits himself to reciting his role without much conviction and the same goes for the other actors, with characters that do not allow us to go much further. La Vieja Musica (1985) has several of the best actors in Spanish cinema at the time , such as : Federico Luppi, Charo López, Antonio Resines, Francisco Rabal . And other great secondaries , such as : Assumpta Serna, Miguel Rellán and Tote García Ortega and a kind of strange detective who embodies the ineffable and prolific Agustín González . In fact , some actors were nominated : 1986 Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actor : Antonio Resines and Best Movie Actress : Charo López .
This slow-paced motion picture was professionally written and directed by Mario Camus at his peculiar style and his ups and downs . But then an excellent film like "The Innocent Saints" , inexplicably Mario Camus shoots his predictable and soulless blandness . And it is not due to lacks actors and actresses, that's why the plot is already something quite hackneyed and the script sounds false . The subject of basketball is decently taken but the plot has nothing to do with it , and the main character is not involved at all. There are Camus movies from the early days that are much better, like ¨Los Farsantes¨or "The Fakers", or from the middle period like "The Birds of Baden-Baden". Camus was born in Santander , Cantabria , location in which often shoots his films . He worked with Carlos Saura in several screenplays during the early 60s Los Golfos (1960), Llanto Por Un Bandido (1964)), and also directed some shorts. His first feature films were Los Farsantes (1963) and Young Sánchez (1964), a movie about boxing which won the Best Film Award at the Buenos Aires Festival . Mario has an important career with film and television adaptations quite remarkable , as he efficiently directed yarns based on notorious writers such as Perez Galdos, García Lorca, Cela Camilo José Miguel Delibes . During various decades he touched styles varying from romantic comedies and musicals to splendid adaptations from famous novels, as is the case of the prestigious TV series "Fortunata y Jacinta" (1979) . In 1983 he was given the 'Medalla Oro De las Bellas Artes' (Arts Gold Medal), and one year later he prepared his most successful work both with public and critic : Los Santos Inocentes (1984), an adaptation from the novel by Miguel Delibes. Mario is an expert on interesting dramas as proved in ¨ The house of Bernarda Alba¨ , ¨La Colmena¨ which won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival , ¨The days of the past ¨ and many others . Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable ; it's a decent film though sometimes slow-moving .
