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Hard Times
Original Title
Malas Temporadas- Director: Manuel Martín Cuenca
- Writer: Alejandro Hernández; Manuel Martín Cuenca
- Producer: Victoria de Lecea; Fernando Victoria de Lecea
CGiii Comment
Hard times...more like hard work.
Too many story lines...none with a satisfactory backstory and/or resolution.
The directors obviously wanted to get their message across...life goes on as usual and it helps if you have a purpose...but, it's the same old, same old: lovers come, lovers go and work/school can be a pain in the ass.
The gay story has a prisoner recently released...looking for his old cell-mate who is now comfortably hunkered down with a woman...that's it.
Nothing really happens...and, by the end, nothing significant has happened. Not exactly the best way to spend 112 minutes.
It could have been better...but, too ambitious with the stories - and, the one about the painting...unnecessary.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
One day in school, Gonzalo decides to not take a test given his class; upon going home, he announces to his mother Ana that he’s not leaving his room. Ana works for an NGO that deals with refugees; one of her clients is Carlos, a Cuban exile who gets by selling black-market cigars and artworks. Carlos brings Mikel, just released from prison, to Ana’s house so that he can teach Gonzalo how to play chess — and possibly get him to start living again. Each of these characters faces an actual or emotional barrier they know they have to get past in order for their lives to go on in any meaningful way. Cuenca’s beautifully crafted screenplay, co-written with Alejandro Hernandez, deftly moves from story to story, creating at times parallels and ironies that we recognize long before his characters. Like other films that employ multiple storylines, there’s a sense that the film emphasizes the randomness of modern life, but for Cuenca it is a succession of chances and opportunities his characters must muster the courage to take.
Cast & Characters
Javier Camara as Mikel;
Nathalie Poza as Ana;
Eman Xor Ona as Carlos;
Leonor Watling as Laura;
Pere Arquillue as Pascual;
Fernando Echevarria as Fabre;
Gonzalo Pedrosa as Gonzalo;
Esther Bellver as Sirvienta;
Josean Bengoetxea;
Gema Corredera as Luisa off