Cerrar los ojos

I was watching something on T. V. one day and came across a commercial starring Ryan Reynolds. I was struck by how OLD he looked in it. Not bad, just old, compared to the Ryan Reynolds who started his career on "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place." Ryan is around my age; in fact, he might even be a little younger. I turned to my wife and asked, "God, do WE look that old?" The answer is probably "yes," but the difference is that my wife and I don't have constant reminders of what our younger selves looked like thrown in our faces every day. At the very same time that the Ryan Reynolds commercial was airing, "Blade: Trinity" was on a different station.

That experience got me thinking a lot about how movies and the actors in them capture moments in time and make possible a weird kind of time travel. You can watch Nicole Kidman in "Far and Away" and then immediately hop over to "Babygirl" and literally see the passage of years in her face.

This is just one of the ideas explored in "Close Your Eyes," an evocative slow burn of a movie about aging in general, and aging as an artist specifically. Manolo Solo is my pick for best actor of the year for his performance as Miguel Garay, a former movie director and author who is trying to track down his friend Julio Arenas, an actor who starred in one of Garay's films but disappeared without a trace before the film could be finished. The film turns into a kind of quiet detective story as Garay tracks Julio down through mutual acquaintances, clues left behind, etc. The film is as much about Garay's own psychology as it is about what happened to Julio. Actually, the film is about lots of things, but it's not obviously about any one thing. It's a lot about coming to terms with getting older and saying goodbye to things that you won't ever have again, something that resonates with me very much right now in my life, having just turned 50. But it's not a downer. It's as much about realizing how much there is to enjoy in the later part of life as there is to miss.

You've gotta have patience with this one, as it's slow and ruminative. It's like reading a character-driven novel. It also happens to be one of the best movies released in 2024.

Grade: A.

I loved this film, the direction of the actors, the pacing and how natural it felt. I watched it over two nights - it's a long film but I was completely involved in the story. All of the characters contributed to the effectiveness of the film and added depth. Nothing felt shallow or forced. The central mystery made me want to watch to the end and discover what had happened to him all those years ago. It's a love letter to film making too and the power of film to affect us and stay in our memory, and how it can change our lives. I'm surprised to read the negative reviews. A brilliant ending, too.

Enjoyable picture full of feeling, evocative mood pieces, wonderful images and a sense of wonder thanks to its cinematography and music. Dealing with a Spanish actor (an aging José Coronado) who disappears during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the mystery returns to our days. So an old friend of his, a film director and writer (Manolo Solo) begins a tireless search to find out where he is, for which he contacts with his daughter (Ana Torrent).

It is a melancholic, prolix and eminently thoughtful treatise on memory, nostalgia, identity, the passage of time and the power of cinema, recurring themes in Erice's not very prolific work. The film includes numerous allusions to cinema and literature. As well as self-references from Víctor Erice himself and his filmography. Starring Manolo Solo along with José Coronado, the latter won deservedly the Goya 2024 for best supporting actor, both give an extraordinary performance, in addition to other well-known actors, such as Ana Torrent, Petra Martínez, María León, Mario Pardo, Helena Miquel, Josep Maria Pou, Soledad Villamil, and despite his prominence on the billboards, Antonio Dechent and Juan Margallo show up on screen for only a few minutes.

Received with a seven-minute ovation at its premiere at the Cannes festival, it is the return to feature film direction, with full of honors, of Victor Erice, three decades after the premiere of his previous film: ¨El Sol del Membrillo¨. And winning several national and international awards. Being nominated for 11 Goya awards, winning only the best supporting actor for the aforementioned José Coronado.

Closing Your Eyes (2023) features lavish photography by magnificent cameraman Valentín Álvarez, as well as an evocative musical score by Federico Jusid. Being filmed in several Spanish locations, such as: Castell de Ferro, Granada, Aguadulce, Almería, Andalusia, Asturias and Madrid. The film was well directed by Victor Erice, although very slow and somewhat boring due to its long duration -almost three hours- with a lot of silence and excessive dialogue. Víctor is considered to be one of the best Spanish directors, known for El sur (1983), El Espíritu de la Colmena (1973) and El sol del membrillo (1992). 'El Sur' is a sensational film that offers a thought-provoking plot and is deemed one of the best Spanish films, in fact it was voted sixth best Spanish film by professionals and critics in 1996 at the centenary of Spanish cinema, while ¨El Espíritu de la Colmena¨ was voted third best Spanish film. Erice was going to write and direct The Shanghai Haunting (2002), based on a novel written by Juan Marsé. Although Marsé praised Erice's script, producer Andrés Vicente Gómez rejected it. After some rewrites, also rejected by the producer, Erice chose to leave the project and was replaced by Fernando Trueba. Then he decided to abandon the shhoting of pictures until resuming today with this 'Closing your eyes'. Rating Cerrar los ojos (2023) : 6.5/10. Above average, well worth watching.

I really don't know what the point of this movie is. The story is soooooo very very very (did I say very already) very slow. I've read it got a 7 min standing ovation but I really don't see why. Probably out of respect for the director It's a movie about growing old and certain aspects of it but it doesn't really go deep. Basically it's just alot of talking without getting beneath the surface. Certainly the first hour is just difficult to get through. I almost gave it up but I stuck through. Not gladly must I add but it gets a little bit better. Dare I say it's the directors age that made this story at least an hour to long... closing off with something good. The acting was quite decent.

For someone who is over 80, Victor Erice provides, while very slow-burn story, a memorizing and symbolic story with beautiful camerawork, strong direction, great performances and emotional cores developed throughout. Erice previous works on "El Sur" and "The Spirit of the Beehive" are some of the best Spanish movies of all time as Erice is great with slow-burn cinema. Dream of Light was also pretty good and after many years, Erice still is able to conduct and interesting project.

Throughout, the run-time can be a big turn off but the narrative and themes that are explored within the setting were interesting as emotional and interesting themes were well-explored within the characters and setting as the themes were able to help create an emotional balance and vision of the setting. Many of the camerawork shots, sound designs and color presentation was pretty good. All of the performances are pretty great with good dialogue and realism portrayed throughout.

Erice's direction was perfect as his takes on the themes of memories and losses were handled well and the emotional core helped create a sense of dream-like and symbolic feel throughout. With the run-time being 169 minutes, I do feel that some aspects were dragged a bit too long and there were certain moments that made me test my patiences a little.

Overall, this is a movie that requires patience but it is very good to see Erice making another film and definitely something I would check out again for a second time.