Pintadas

`Pintadas' is, to say the least, an unusual film from Spain, belonging very much to the new genre being fostered very heavily these days, especially by Basque and Catalonian film-makers. The film has never reached the big screen for some reason which just has not been explained anywhere, such that public showing has been limited to a few screenings on TV. Whereas it may not be anything like cinematographic art, I do feel that such meagre appearances is not deserved. Indeed, it has some pretty good points. Adolfo Fernández as Diego, and Emma Suárez as Clara put in quite good performances as the main couple who meet each other in different taxis stopped at traffic-lights, who then decide to live together in one of those great big roomy turn-of-the-century houses which in itself is enough to lend spooky mysteriousness to everything. The landlord - Fernando Fernán-Gómez - who lives on the top floor, adds to the spookiness; try comparing him in this film with Carlos Álvarez-Novoa in `Solas'. You might say that the house IS one of the actors: a previous married couple living in it stopped talking to each other and communicated only through notes scrawled all over the walls. Diego begins to collect them, trying to put them in some kind of order, and as he does so certain weird and mysterious happenings occur. Fabulously photographed, even with surrealistic touches, they had the luck of a bit of a snowfall in Madrid which added to the genuineness of a naked Emma Suárez being taken away on the back of a refuse truck, shivering uncontrollably, poor thing! It is a hard life being an actress....... Lucio Godoy's music is fine, and there are a couple of pieces from `La Traviata' thrown in for good measure. Worth a bit on the high side of 7 out of 10: entertaining and appropriate for adult viewing times.

This obscure and unknown film deals with Diego (Adolfo Fernández) and Clara (Emma Suárez), they have just met and, they have a crush. They meet, fall in love and quckly decide to move in together, thinking it is a good idea, but things go wrong. They agree to maintain a kind of open relationship, with absolute freedom. They rent a house to a strange landlord called José (Fernando Fernán Gómez). It is in the middle of a big city and is divided into two floors. The old man, José , lives upstairs, and the one downstairs, the one that is rented, has the rare peculiarity of having the walls covered with written messages. The cartoonist Diego gradually becomes obsessed with the subject and discovers that the graffiti are related to each other and that they were written by the man and woman who previously occupied the house.

This "Painted" or ¨Pintadas¨ results to be a very strange film that mixes genres without specifying or indicating which of them predominates, thus creating a mixture that does not fit well. So here there is drama, romance, horror, thriller but the film is not sung by any of them, creating a kind of medley that is somewhat indigestible. The film's novelty is that it was one of the first completely filmed using the steady-cam technique, that is, the camera is attached by means of harnesses to the cameraman who follows the performers throughout the places where it takes place the action. And it is full of "sequence shots", in fact the director Estelrich is a furious admirer of Luis Garcia Berlanga who collaborates profusely with the director's father and also with his son. Emma Suárez and Adolfo Fernández star the couple of lovers, both of whom give enough chemistry between them, adding some strong love scenes. Accompanied by the always great Fernando Fernán Gómez as the renter who keeps dark secrets of his outlandish existence . His role has remarkable resemblance to the one he starred in ¨El Anacoreta¨ directed by Juan Estelrich Sr, father of the director of ¨Pintadas¨, Juan Estelrich Jr. And brief interpretations of other familiar actors, such as: Ágata Lys, Lita Claver 'La Maña', Enrique San Francisco, Pedro Beltrán, Charly Bravo, Tony Zenet and Jesús Castejón.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Juan Estelrich Jr and Nominated Best Film International Competition (1997) . Juan Estelrich Jr is a good writer, director assistant, producer and filmmaker. He is best known for his work as an assistant director on such films The Shell seekers, Jarrapellejos, Marine, Empire of the sun, Indiana Jones and the last crusade, Eleni, Los desastres de la guerra. And directing a few films such as Bombay Goa Express and La via láctea with Mickey Rooney. Rating: 5/10. Average. Acceptable and passable but only for Emma Suárez and Fernando Fernán Gómez fans.