La manzana de oro

I was in Barcelona for the preview at the BCN Film Fest and I was very surprised. Accustomed to current Spanish comedies, I found something different in this film. It mixes comedy and drama with ease, and makes you laugh while it talks about various questions, intimate and universal.

It is based on a novel by Aramburu (the one from "Patria") that I think was cut short; this filmic adaptation goes a little further. Like other films by Chávarri ("Bicycles are for summer", "Las cosas del querer") it shows, with naive transparency, the human side of the characters, and this is possible thanks to a cast full of great names, especially Sergi López. But it's a choral film: Marta Nieto, Lastra, Roberto Enríquez, Vicky Peña, Campra, Climent, Gabaldón, Álvaro Subiés, García Millán, Elena Seijo, Celso Bugallo and Isabel Garrido.

The plot, as simple as it is, has a good rhythm (the editing is by Teresa Font, Almodóvar's favourite). The photography is by Kiko de la Rica ("Blancanieves", "Lucía y el sexo", "La comunidad"). Costume design is Mar Fraga's, and she does a great job.

A literary contest organized by a group of nuns, attracts some Spanish writers, with inflated "egos", including a woman who writes poems completely naked, a blind man with strange sex fantasies and an alcoholic man who used to write quite well.

The film, directed by an old Spanish cinema director depicts the derelict, skeletal Spanish literary world.

The film includes some surrealistic, ironic & extravagant gags.

The young woman writer wins the award an escapes from the blind and jealous writer (her couple, who wished the prize), in order to go to a big party.

The metaphors and images are pure old fashioned Spain.

The unclassifiable Jaime Chávarri returns to the cinema 18 years after the premiere of Camaron (2005) with this choral comedy-drama inspired by the novel ¨Avidas Pretensiones¨ by Fernando Aramburru, writer of ¨Patria¨dealing with three generations of poets meet every year in an isolated convent to compete for a prize. Here poets from several generations meet in a Galician inn, as every year, to compete with the Manzana de Oro. The arrival of an unexpected guest soon derails these events, blowing everything up by bringing to light past stories, conflicts to resolve, late loves, unexpected sexual encounters...Thereare love entanglements , such as Nívea, played by Marta Nieto, who experiences a romance with Changa, played by Sergi López, and other male characters. However, there are too many characters for a story that does not know how to exploit them, as has been commented before. There far from the madding crowd, the peculiar poets reciting Quevedo or Góngora and tasting wine, ham, cheese and Galiician typical food.

This is an agreeable as well as uneven comedy in less than 107 minutes of length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility rarely match. The film moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable , with more traps the viewer resists any kind, and some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few embarrassing .There are brief moments of drama , but predominates comedy and some impossible situations , including romances , confusion and mayhem. Marta Nieto (Madre), Sergi López (El Laberinto del Fauno), Vicky Peña (Secretos del Corazon), Adrian Lastra (Primos) , Álvaro Subiés, Carla Campra, Roberto Enríquez, Joaquín Climent, Paca Gabaldón, Ginés García Millán, Cesar Bugallo, Rodrigo Soares, among others, are part of the large cast of the film.

There's a good female portrait embodied by Marta Nieto, as well as the extravagant sentimental relationship between the roles of Roberto Enríquez and Carla Campra are decently depicted, in a portrait of a sui generis intergenerational love. There are brief moments of drama , but predominates comedy and twisted incidents. Jaime Chávarri, signs the script together with José Ángel Esteban, also makes the ordinary portrayal of LGBT characters converted into a mere aesthetic point of their amusing sexual entanglements. The result is arguably a well-intentioned attempt to bring back some of the past comedies, with a plot that evokes partially the Eighties films.

Although it can be said that it has moments of clever humour and very funny sequences , especially those starring Sister Sagrario and Manolita, played by Elena Seijo and Vicky Peña), 'The Golden Apple' fails in some inappropriate portrayals of the peculiar roles who tarnish the final result of this proposal and there are characters that are tremendously wasted, who could have made their own film. That's why it gives the impression of being a minor production by the director of films such as 'A un dios desconocido' or 'Las bicicletas son para el verano'; this maybe due to an excess of choral content.

It contains a colorful and glowing cinematography by Kiko de la Rica which heightens the ambiance, being shot on location in Ourense, Galicia . The 80-year-old filmmaker had not directed for 18 years, since he released 'Camarón' in 2005, his acclaimed biopic about the flamenco genius starring Óscar Jaenada. His first film, Los viajes escolares (1976), dealt with some interesting family issues and included a most personal touch, but it was misunderstood by the critics. Later he worked with producer Elías Querejeta and carried out one of his most memorable works, El desencanto (1976), about the Paneros family, and then with Alfredo Matas he shot the period movie Bearn o la sala de las muñecas (1983), adapted from the novel by Llorenç Vilallonga. Subsequently he managed to adapt Bicycles Are for the Summer (1984) from the theatre play by Fernando Fernán Gómez. With this last film he achieved great success in the box office. Over a three-decade career, this versatile filmmaker has captured many genres, including the musical: The Things of Love (1989) and its sequel The Things of Love: Part 2 (1995). He also directed intense dramas such as ¨Dedicatoria¨ and ¨A un Dios Desconocido¨ . Presented at the Orense Festival (and which caused its disqualification at the Seminci in Valladolid and its subsequent controversy), 'La manzana de oro' is now reaching commercial theatres, with which the veteran filmmaker returns to the big screen. Rating: 6/10. Especially recommended for fans of the Spanish comedy.