Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on January 08, 2010 at 20:43:07

your typical 8 year old won't like--- or understand.
A group of middle-aged men are at loose ends after the local shipyard in Spain's Gallicia province closes and leaves them with no good job prospects. Three years after the closure, the men have realized the local economy isn't recovering, their severance pay is gone, and even poor-paying jobs are scarce.
What could be a bleak picture (if this were an modern English directors' film, I'd have been forced to bail early on because of their general lack of humor) is elevated and enriched by the superb performances of Javier Bardem--- is there a better mature actor in film today?--- and Luis Tosar, a powerful and talented actor unfairly unknown to American audiences.
Ensemble acting seldom approaches this quality and the writing is original with enough human insights to make the viewer sad when that its ended.