A handful of young people try to sort out the complications of their relationships -- both romantic and familial -- in this comedy drama from Spain. Jorge (Quim Gutierrez) is a guy in his mid-twenties trying to get his life in order as he looks after his father Andres (Hector Colome), who has recently suffered a stroke. Relations are tense between Jorge and Andres, and Jorge thinks one of their arguments may have led to his father's illness. While Andres recovers, Jorge covers his shifts as a
janitor, and spends his spare time hanging out with his friend Israel (Raul Arevalo), who is coming to terms with his sexuality, and corresponding with his one-time girlfriend Natalia (Eva Pallaares), who is now attending college in Germany. Meanwhile, Jorge's brother Antonio (Antonio de la Torre) has stumbled into an unusual new relationship -- Antonio is in prison, and while assisting with a theater production being staged behind bars, he becomes infatuated with Paula (Marta Etura), who is both a cast member and a prisoner. Paula wants a baby despite the fact she's in jail, but Antonio isn't so sure he wants to be the father. AzulOscuroCasiNegro (aka DarkBlueAlmostBlack) was the first feature film from writer and director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Bifurcated images, isolating the characters from their dreams and from one another, create a yearning atmosphere that pulls you in; like their director, you really want them to escape.
The plot of Spanish director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo's well-acted feature debut is the kind that his countryman Pedro Almodovar would imbue with bold colors, acid humor and perhaps a headstrong transvestite.
This slice of quirky life story about a classy, unattainable suit in a store window, is one classy movie as well, ennobling its host of eccentric and tragic, yet determined and struggling, vividly realized characters.
Engaging, bittersweet and frequently laugh out loud funny, this is an enjoyable Spanish drama with strong performances and a subtle but effective message.
What could have seemed insufferably self-pitying becomes strangely moving instead -- a sign of a filmmaker placing his absolute trust in their material and coming up all the stronger for it.
Sanchez Arevalo is a worthwhile addition to the growing ranks of providers of solid and entertaining stories taken from life, as seen through a melodramatic prism.
This is a movie about relationships -- relationships between family, between friends, between lovers, even one relationship where Jorge is trying to get his brother's girlfriend pregnant.The movie keeps you watching with its interesting concepts. I'm not sure if Jorge does learn a lesson or not by the end of the movie
though.
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