Las horas del día

I like to think I'm a bit of a cinephile, certainly the majority of the films I really like are either foreign or art-house films; but this film really did nothing for me.

The story centers around Abel, an ordinary guy who works in a clothes shop. On the surface he leads a fairly normal (if a little dismal) life. He lives with his mother but is looking for a place of his own. He has a steady relationship with a beautiful girlfriend, and manages his business amiably. But underneath this calm facade lurks a vicious streak which waits to make itself known.

I sincerely apologise, because if you go in to see this film after reading that review you'll hate my guts. On the surface, it seems the point of this film is to be as pretentious as possible. It's filmed in academy, for goodness sake. There are long, tedious shots of nothing in particular, and reams of meaningful dialogue which hint at unfathomable significance. But what really got me was the banality of it all; and perhaps this was the point of the film. There was no tension to the scenes where Abel attacks his victims, and no development to his character - he didn't strike me as a tortured soul pushed over the edge, or some vicious character behind a facade of normality. He just seemed to be an asshole set on ruining peoples days (and lives, etc) The girl I was with actually fell asleep during the first murder.

The only emotion this film managed to elicit from me was annoyance at having wasted two hours of my life watching it. I give it three stars; and the only reason I gave it that was the talent it took to make murder into a non-event.

Abel is a quiet man that lives with his mother and works in a clothes shop. As most people, he has his little problems and daily routine. He also has a hobby, one thing he does when he is too much nervous: he kills the first person he mets. It is not a bloody murder or perfect, in fact they are pathetic, he is not a blockbuster-killer, he is not more that a person that kills when he is too much annoyed. With these plot, it seems that the film can result quite interesting, but it is absolutely boring, the main character is too much incoherent and stupid, the acting is not precisely good, nor the directing. Most scenes are long and too much slow, which makes the film mostly empty and action-less. It takes 2 hours to explain us a story which doesn't tell us anything, the ending is terribly done and it leaves the taste that you could have done something better with your time, rather than watching this film. Despite that, it is necessary to admit that the murder scenes, though not being very good, are the best of the film. Being able to make a murder something as usual and empty of thrilling is not easy, and the director does it quite well (well, it's its intention), which can make the waiting (for the end of the film) a bit shorter.

This is one of the best movies I have seen, not because of the story, not because of the presentation of the movie, not because of the actors(all are brilliant in this on though), just the fact that real life is much more stranger and weirder than fiction. The pace of the movie added to the boring every day chores of Abel is what makes this movie special. I was expecting something exciting to happen through out the movie and when it happened it takes a takes some time to settle in. The fact that Abel doesn't feel a thing on the people he has killed makes it more special. No motive , no murder is mostly the case in many crime movies but this one breaks the stereo type and shows there are some things more stranger and weirder than motive. The actors are hand picked for their roles and Abel,Tere,Trini,Marcos and Abel's mom are just perfect. Well I like movies which leave you really unsettled in the end and this one does it to you. Probably "Funny Games" will one movie which you can relate but most movies wont come in this Genere. REAL MASTERPIECE ......... 10/10

This hiper-realistic film is one of the most original serial killer films I have ever seen. The main character, Abel, is the owner of a boutique in the Barcelona suburbs. We follow him through his extremely boring everyday activity, arguing with his girlfriend, helping out a friend to start an advertising business, trying to sell his shop...an anodyne, ordinary life, except for the fact that sometimes Abel brutally murders total strangers with his bare hands. The unnerving thing about this movie, and what makes it a very disturbing experience is that no explanation is given for Abel´s killings. Actually they are shown with the same detachment as the rest of Abel´s boring activities. Even though there are no grisly details nor gore, the actual murder scenes are difficult to watch because they are shot in the same realistic, quasi-documentary style. On the other hand, Abel´s criminal activities do not interfere in his daily routine, so if the murder scenes were cut, you would see a fairly accurate description of the life of an ordinary young man in any part of the western world. This is not a film for everybody: there is virtually no plot, it is excruciatingly boring sometimes, and the violence is too real to be fun. But you should see this film if you are tired of standard horror films with hollow stories and characters. This film is virtually different to anything you have seen (except maybe Michael Haneke´s "Funny Games"). Although everything in it is familiar, in the end the film, like its main character, remains a mystery, an abyss in the midst of routine. There´s no final revelation or catharsis. Maybe that is why, unlike most contemporary films, it haunts you for a long time after leaving the cinema, even if you would not consider it a pleasant experience.

I like Spanish film, and I do not think that it necessarily have to happen something every second of a movie. But this... It was so boring, shots of the main character washing a plate for minutes, and then he is suddenly murdering somebody! Next shot - the boredom continues... You never get explanations, nothing ties the things together - this was simply a waste of time to watch and I had to be ashamed for dragging my friends to this sad excuse of a Spanish film.