Second feature film by Oscar Aibar (El Bosque, multiple chapters of Cuentame Que Me Paso, El Gran Vazquez) with a script that attempts to delve into the complex psychology of the two main characters and that Aibar himself co-writes in collaboration with Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Alex de la Iglesia's regular screenwriter. This one deals with a black chronicle of what happened in the industrial city of Tarrassa in 1972, with two textile workers José (Ángel de Andrés) and Juan (Jordi Vilches) with very normal lives and occupations. Both share their passion about the paranormal, specially about UFOs. In these years where was very much UFOs' sightings, they feel captivated by the mystery and start to investigate the diverse theories about the intentions or purposes of the sightings. But , a little bit on, we find them decapitated on the train track next to a note that said: ¨The aliens call us, we belong to infinity.¨. Shortly after, other envelopes appear addressed to the UN, to the researchers of the UFO phenomenon in Spain and to Leonidas Breznev and Richard Nixon. In them, the two suicides talked about the incredible mutation that their bodies had undergone and that had prepared them for their final trip to Jupiter, where, they believed, the closest Alien base was located. The real story about two Spanish men whose traveled to another planet!. Extraterrestrials call us: we belong to infinity !.
There's a faithful portrayal of the Spanish environment in Franco era during the Seventies and with the two main actors giving terrific performance, balancing tenderness and cynicism, making the film a pleasant surprise. Based on real events, in 1972 Juan and José are two textile workers from Tarrasa, Catalonia (northeast to Spain) who meet during an UFOs' convention. The film focuses on the peculiar relationship between two unfortunate and obsessed by UFOS people. Their friendship and the obsession they have will turn in dementia and paranoia, hurting their relations with their respective friends and familiars and exposing their lives to an extreme decision due to the conclusion of their own investigations. Óscar Aibar is not as well known outside of Spain as he should be. His films have that strange and wonderful blending of genres, such as comedy and sci-fi in Platillos Volantes about textile workers obsessed with UFO's. The film pays tribute a other films as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and even TV series as Los Chiripitiflauticos.
This one stars the veteran and recently deceased Angel de Andrés and the young Jordi Vilches, along with the Italian comedian Leo Bassi, Pere Ponce, Angels Poch, Macarena Gómez, Berta Ojea, Carmen de Lirio, Benito Pocino, Francisca Piñón, Juan Margallo with the collaboration of Enrique VIllén, Craig Hill and Iker Jiménez, makes an uncredited cameo as the man who gets banned from the UFO convention for being a skeptic, he was a well-known Spanish writer, reporter and investigator of paranormal phenomena.
In Platillos volantes(2003) excels the evocative and thrilling musical score by Javier Navarrete who would continue a successful international career as a great composer, adding symphony NO-DO by Manuel Parada and the catching song Voces de otros mundos lyrics & music by Manuel Díaz Martínez performed by Los Pasos. The motion picture Flying Saucers (World-wide, English title) was competently written and directed by Oscar Aibar. Previously he directed a sci-fi/western in Atolladero (set in a lawless hinterland with Iggy Pop as a psychopathic killer), and even a bit of history in the story of 1960s Spanish comic writer El Gran Vázquez, starring Santiago Segura. Aibar combines the great Spanish absurd and grotesque tradition into postmodern myth. He's just begun shooting his sixth feature film, El Bosque, starring Tom Sizemore, bein based upon a short story from spanish author Albert Sanchez Piñol set during the Spanish Civil War. Oscar is a craftsman who has directed a few films , all of them have special issues and interesting themes , dealing with all kinds of genres , such as Spaghetti/Sci-Fi : ¨Atolladero¨ , Fantasy : ¨The Forest¨ , Thriller : ¨Rumors¨ , Comedy/Drama : ¨Platillos Volantes¨, Biography : ¨El Gran Vazquez¨ with Santiago Segura and ¨La Maquina de Billar¨ also starred by Segura . Rating : 7/10 , better than average .
