Smoking Room (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Directors:

Roger Gual
Julio D. Wallovits

Writers:

Roger Gual (writer)
Julio D. Wallovits (writer)

Release Date:

14 June 2002 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

10 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Miguel Ángel González	...	El Mensajero
Francesc Orella	...	Martínez
Francesc Garrido	...	Fernández
Manuel Morón	...	Rubio
Chete Lera	...	Puig
Pep Molina	...	Gómez
Antonio Dechent	...	Enrique
Eduard Fernández	...	Ramírez
Juan Loriente	...	Coral
Ulises Dumont	...	Armero
Juan Diego	...	Sotomayor
Vicky Peña	...	Marta
Jaume Amatller
Victoria Lepori
Ramon Munné

Runtime:

88 min | Canada:91 min (Festivalissimo Montreal)

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Spain:13

Company:

El Sindicato

Trivia:

Federico Luppi was cast to play the character of Armero but had to decline because of schedule problems. Héctor Alterio was cast for the role but he too had to turn down because of the dates of the shooting. It was finally Ulises Dumont who played the part.

Movie Connections:

References Alien³ (1992)

Soundtrack:

Hoy puede ser un gran día

Second hand smoking may kill you

As films from Spain go, this picture was somewhat different in that it has nothing to do with the Civil War. On the other hand, it is definitely anti-American in that the new owners of the company are Americans. In Spain, as the rest of Europe, businesses are multi-national. The writers would like us to believe that no French, Italian, German, or Swedish companies impose that restriction on their employees, as it is the case with this American firm that obviously has taken over the former Spanish one.

The fact that the company has been bought by Yankees comes in the course of the conversations among the different people that work there. The sore point for these people is that suddenly they can't smoke inside their cubicles and must either go to the roof, or outside, even when the weather is windy and cold. The underlining factor is the hate all feel for the new owners and how these new people can't understand the culture of Spain. How dare they impose those rules. They won't take it. Multi-nationals can be heartless, or so it seems.

This film has the distinction that it's directed not by one director, but by two, Gual and Wallovits, who co-wrote the on the script, according to the credits.

The interesting thing about the film is that is photographed in closeups and the face of the actors register the emotions at all times. It's very difficult to fake acting when the camera lens is on you. All the actors do a decent job in portraying these office workers, which we assumed is an accounting firm.

All they want is a smoking room in which they can smoke freely, but it is not going to happen. At the end, all the friends are against the one that can't get on with the program. The others are hypocrites and the one that keeps at it finds himself the victim of the others' hatred.

The best part is the length, about 90 minutes, although the program said 117 minutes from which 27 were mercifully cut and it gives a different pace to the film.