The Distances (2018)

A weekend in Berlin. Five friends reunited for a celebration. Five lives turn upside-down.

Director:

Elena Trapé

Writers:

Josan Hatero, Miguel Ibáñez Monroy

Stars:

Alexandra Jiménez, Miki Esparbé, Isak Férriz

5 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Alexandra Jiménez	...	Olivia
Miki Esparbé	...	Comas
Isak Férriz	...	Guille
Bruno Sevilla	...	Eloi
Maria Ribera	...	Anna
Saskia Rosendahl	...	Marion
Matti Schmidt-Schaller	...	Tobias
Marie Rathscheck	...	Novia Tobias

Storyline

Four old friends from the university times travel from Barcelona to Berlin to meet Álex Comas, the other friend of the bunch who moved Germany years ago. They are Olivia, a woman pregnant of seven months of her first baby; Guille and Anna, a longtime couple with problems after she was fired and doesn't find a new job; and the naive Eloi, who despite to have work moved to his parents' house after to lose his own by the debts. Arriving the Friday to spend three days remembering old times in order to celebrate with Comas during a full weekend his 35th birthday that it will be the Sunday, the own Comas is surprised by the unexpected visit of the group, but soon the things complicate between them: in their first talks emerge contradictions and conflicts by their different lives and personal situations, and at the end of the night a taciturn and depressive Comas, taking advantage a boys date to drink in a night pub with Guille and Eloi, leaves the pub and misses in the city unable to stay ...

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Plot Keywords:

germany | cell phone | calling | voice message | birthday party | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Al amanecer
Performed by Los Fresones Rebeldes

User Reviews

My interest waned faster than the depicted friendships

Four friends from Spain travel to Berlin to surprise a friend on his birthday. Things don't go well and tensions are revealed. This tedious movie has nothing new to say about anything and does so with a minimum of humor or interest. The movie is done by hand-held camera. The camera jerks constantly, even when focused on a character who isn't moving. I suppose this is meant to convey tension but for me it simply increased my boredom and annoyance and I found myself looking away it times. I don't speak Spanish, so looking away meant missing the captions, yet I didn't get the sense that I missed anything because each scene dragged on and on to make its point. One further annoyance: when the Spanish-speaking characters encountered German speakers, the captions stop. This is a pretty common practice. Problem is, some of the actors' accents are so thick that their English is unintelligible. This wasn't too great a loss because no one was saying anything very interesting anyway.

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Catalan Spanish English German

Release Date:

7 September 2018 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Distances

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$177,641

Company Credits

Production Co:

Coming Soon Films, Crea SGR, Generalitat de Catalunya - Departament de Cultura

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1