Sud express (2005)

Directors:

Chema de la Peña
Gabriel Velázquez

Writers:

Gabriel Velázquez (writer)
Chema de la Peña (writer)

Release Date:

13 January 2006 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A glimpse into the lives of those who live alongside the Sud Express, a train line running from Paris to Lisbon. |

Plot Keywords:

Train | Adultery | Dog | Wheelchair | Taxi Driver

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Pilar Borrego	...	Isa
Javier Delgado	...	Rober
Tino Guimaraes	...	Tino
German A. Joao	...	Mili
Hicham Malayo	...	Rashid
Gerald Morales	...	Samuel
Elisabete Piecho
Lidia Pinville	...	Lucía

Runtime:

Canada:102 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Spain | Portugal

Language:

Spanish | French | Portuguese | Arabic | Basque

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Company:

Artimaña Producciones S.L.

Goofs:

Continuity: The farmers drive a three-door Nissan Terrano, but interior shots are of a five-door Land Rover.

A tad slow, yet enjoyable

I saw the movie last night at its premiere in Madrid. As I prefer to go unbiased, I had not read about it and hardly knew what it was about.

Technically, some shots seemed a bit awkward and felt like "in this one steady angle, I want to see the name of the bar above plus the table the man is sitting at AND be close to the character's face". At some other points I wondered if the camera was shaking because the cameraman was, or if it was an effect to render the violence of the train passing by. The actors seem to be wearing no "movie" make-up (apart from a man in a Rover with eye-liner), which ads to the realism and the "day-to-day" aspect (does he really have spots on his face? Were they made up? Did they choose to leave them?)

The pace of the movie is rather slow and I felt some scenes could have been shorter. You sometimes have the feeling that nothing is going on. And then you wonder if 'anything' is really going to happen. Yet, it does give the sensation you are sharing some of the characters' real lives for a short moment and things do happen and characters do evolve, as you realise at the end of the movie that, even if subrepticely, the characters have gone through an experience that have changed them and made them reconsider part of their lives.

I really enjoyed most of the dialogues. The prostitute at the very beginning felt so very true. There were very nice touches of humour using the absurdity of some situations. However I noticed I was the only one laughing when the young man in a wheel chair replies «pues nada, aquí andando» ("you know, walking around").

By the end of the movie, I did wonder though if it was ever going to end and what conclusion could such a movie have, if any. Yet the end felt logical and natural.