Viejos

An empathetic take on being - not growing - old. This is not an investigation of growing into old age, but of being old and becoming older. To put it bluntly. "Things fall apart". Our bodies and minds start to fail, our partners die, and we have to cope. It is confusing and frighteneng-- some of us become passive, some become aggressive--but we all react. Violence against, and by, those who are "losing it", is a real problem Rarely is the "violence by" deadly, but often, the "violence against", is, if not deadly, cruel. Throughout our lives we have all entertained thoughts of revenge that we did not act upon, but in our dementia reveries, we may.

All of the actors did credible jobs. To criticize the actress who played Naia for having an ample bosom is entirely offensive--it wasn't a "thing" in the movie and I did not even notice until "that reviewer" made an issue of it. She did a very good job as the most empathetic person in the room--I think she has a fine career ahead of her.

No pun intended - and maybe you could argue that hell is on earth. Religious stuff aside and the movie is not really a religious one. It is more of a philosophical one - there is also another question this may raise ... but let's not delve into specifics here. It is about how we treat elders - but also how they deal with the ... well inevitable.

There are certain things that the movie or rather I have issues with. Why would you go to a flat in the middle of the night to clear it out? Forget about horror tropes and cliches - it just isn't practical. Of course it is always better for the suspense if it is dark and the character and the viewer has a few moments where we can all be frightened ... suspend your disbelief and there is more than a bit of entertainment to be had.

I love my hubby. He is one of the best things in my life. The fact, however, that he actually lends any credence or weight into Rotten Tomatoes movie scores, drives me crazy! Yes, yes, I know .... the same can be said about me who uses IMDB to test the temperature of films before viewing or to leave thoughts on them once viewed. But seriously, speaking of comparisons, RT is a joke with a bad punchline.

So is the case with this film.

The Elderly, or "Viejos" stands at a 100% RT Rating at this writing. Not 15% of that is deserved. To say that some serious SOMETHING must have exchanged hands in order to generate that 100% score, is probably not an exaggeration.

While both the two gents who play the dads (dad and granddad) and the lady who plays the stepmom are pretty believable, one of the MAIN characters (the daughter/granddaughter) is AWFUL. Let me say this just for the record: BlG BOOBS DON'T EQUAL TALENT. Her acting is stiff and her facial expressions when no lines are running, are awkward and annoying.

The MAJOR problem is the story itself. Now, while I would like to say it had potential, how true can that be, exactly? I mean anything and everything COULD have potential and in the case of The Elderly, if a million things had been done differently with it, perhaps it would have. As it is, it was a hodgepodge of angry statements by one character, clueless responses from another, lots of tight shots of worried faces, and THEN, the most ridiculous of endings to have ever made film less than it should be.

Stars is the absolute maxima extremadura for this movie, havings seen quite a few films lately that issues elderly vs violence, not violence upon the elderly but violent elders, that has become a popular item next to zombies and undead etc...

this is an extremely slow churning spanish horror movie, showing some of the worst cases of ælsheimer and picks syndrome with the entire realms of hallusinating symptoms among the senile population, combined with climate change and electromagnetic pollutioning, its set for a violent climax in the end. Its a volatile ''wait till youve turned the page'', extremely colourful visualistic product, with a decent cast that hasnt got the best of scriptuals to work on. They could also have given a better timeline for the whole callosum, heat domes over madrid has become the norm over the last years, so when wouldve told alot.

If you like spanish horror or spanish film in general i might recommend, but not on top of the grumpy old mans list.

To all health workers handling elderly people at work, just be aware...me, the grumpy old man am a nurse and ive seen the change in volatileness and violence among the elderly pasients over many years and the borderlines of commitment have moved over in favour of the elders, so the flick aint that unrealistic.

Just viewed "Viejos" (elderly) at Sitges Film Festival 2022 and my feelings on it are mixed.

With the plot they were given, the crew did everything they possibly could. The acting, lighting, camera, Sound and Music is great throughout the entire movie and there's clear Signs of creativity and innovation behind the scenes. The actors playing the grandfather as well as the daughter were definitely the best actors of the film, which is overall interesting as well as impressive.

Unfortunately, however, the writing is quite dull at times. There's a lot tension as well as jumpscares at times, and the film itself is very creepy. Yet it Seem to be creepy for the sake of being creepy at multiple occasions. It's not that it's a slow burn and that a bad thing, it's more that multiple scenes seem like plot devices when they really aren't which makes it all seem convoluted.

It saddens me to say, because tethered so many good ideas. The movie makes comments on how we treat the elderly, climate change and grief both literally and by the use of metaphors, but many unnecessary horror tropes and a ton of underwritten characters (everyone besides the daughter of the main family) really drags everything else down.

The film takes an unexpected turn near the third act, but I personally enjoyed it. The first act however, not so much. I do hope to see more from the directors in the future and hope they - along side the great cast and crew - get praise internationally

In brief: Everything about the film was inpressive and the atmosphere and messages were great. Plot drags it down for me. Due to the many great factors, I score it 7.5/10.