El Club de los Insomnes (2018) User Reviews

Simply nice

[linkogecko · 7/10 · 15 December 2018]

"The Insomniacs' Club" is a story with 3 core characters, less than 20 characters total, few settings and hardly any fanciful film-making. It is a simple movie... and also a nice one. With a bit of a throwback vibe to those 1990s US indie dramedies from the likes of Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith as well as similar home-grown films like "Temporada de Patos" and "Almacenados", "Insomniacs'" aims to keep it fairly slice-of-life, with the drama and laughs coming from realistic dialogues and situations that are just absurd enough to seem pulled out of genuine "convenience store in the wee hours of the morning" anecdotes.

The trio is conformed first by Danny (my personal favorite, wonderfully played against type by Cassandra Ciangherotti), the almost-obligatory indifferent, young, artsy one who, being the night-shift clerk at the convenience store that serves as the meeting point for the Club, also functions as its core. Santiago follows, perhaps the clearest Insomniac, office clerk by day, and tormented by a recurring and inconclusive dream at night, his insomnia leads him to chat with Danny during her shift. Finally we have Estela, the newcomer veterinarian who is only just starting to find herself unable to sleep since discovering her pregnancy.

Each character has a main driving force, some more time-critical (Estela having something of a deadline to go through with her planned abortion), others less (Danny wanting to leave the store for a photography school... someday). From here, the plot follows a fairly natural flow as it hints at a vague love triangle situation, which is then replaced by a certain equilibrium, then the "everything seems to be going wrong" moment and finally a nice conclusion where not everyone gets what they wanted originally nor is everything wrapped up perfectly but in which the trio is still mostly able to move on and find themselves in better places emotionally.

By this point the film makes it very clear it is perfectly content in being nice (at least in terms of the Trio). The conflict moments are hardly caused by malice from their part, they mainly originate from dealing with the jerks that surround them. Controversial topics like Estela's possible abortion are treated with a quiet respect rather than the melodrama and shock that other Mexican media would usually go for. With this overall aura of niceness permeating throughout, it's difficult to have particularly strong feelings towards the movie, it is as difficult to hate as it is to love it. It's a nice movie, that at the end leaves you feeling nicely... and sometimes, nice is nice enough.

The symptom of diversification

[sebastianha96 · 5/10 · 1 January 2019]

The Mexican film industry has been able to take advantage of streaming platforms to adapt, and even innovate, its cinematographic products, with the aim of supplying a new audience that has similarly learned to consume films outside the cinemas. In a country where nearly two hundred films are produced each year, and half of them do not make it to theaters, the emergence of digital distribution spaces emerges as an unavoidable and necessary alternative, but also as an object of debate; What kind of online content is the one that should be available? Should it be equal to what is offered in traditional distribution spaces? What is the responsibility assumed by these spaces for the national film offer?

Directed by Joseduardo Giordano and Sergio Goyri Jr., The Sleepless Club tells the story of Danny (Cassandra Ciangherotti), Santiago (Leonardo Ortizgris), and Estela (Alejandra Ambrosi), three frustrated young adults who share their sleeplessness, dreams and failures in a small mini-market where they meet every night.

Although it is unusual for a production to have more than one director, the result is far from justifying this creative commitment. Despite there are characters with clear conflicts, none of them is developed concretely, the film lacks a real climate moment, and most situations lack an outcome that leads to a satisfactory conclusion. To all this is added the fact that Giordano and Goyri Jr. themselves served as scriptwriters, giving them a largely untapped authorial freedom.

From the cast is perhaps Ciangherotti the most remarkable, that between her role as shy, resigned, and sad looking mother, as she executed in '' Timeshare (2018) '', and this movie, where she becomes a rebellious, bitter, and artistic cashier, she demonstrates her talent for mutation in front of the camera while embodying her character with masterful skill. Unfortunately, this actress is left behind by the script, which for no reason decides not to explore the dramatic possibilities of the enigmatic blue haired girl.

The biggest challenge for national productions at the moment is not how to make more movies, but how to get more movies to be seen. The diversification of the ways of watching films should also imply a diversification in the themes and their narrative proposals, otherwise only the old production models would be reaffirmed, without any discourse that favors the new platforms or question the films made under traditional schemes.

Saying it's a slow film is too shallow

[alessandracaramaro · 7/10 · 20 October 2019]

It's really intriguing how mexican independent films constantly tend to be slow paced and rather quiet, for some reason mexican filmmakers tend to opt for little dialogue which is not very realistic, come on, accept it, we are rather loud... The fact that the three characters are in some way depressed can tired us, we need some variation, i want to guess that they wanted to do that with the clerk character but she was just sarcastic. The conflicts in the film where within the interiors of the character's minds which is totally okay and can be used in a cool way, notheless I didn't feel like they were willfull enough to fight for solving their conflicts... they just drowned in them. I found it frustraiting.

A very interesting Mexican movie

[DogePelis2015 · 5/10 · 12 December 2020]

The plot is fine, and the acting is decent; however, it does not bring anything new to the drama genre.

Can't stop watching this movie!

[randy605 · 8/10 · 18 May 2022]

It's on Netflix so I can watch anytime. I don't speak Spanish at least not very well but I love foreign films so I'm used to reading lines. Love all the main characters and would love a sequel. Daniela does own the movie to an extent and she would seem one of Mexicos leading stars. Her timing and humor really save the movie at times and the bond with her and Santiago is the strongest in the film. He's the only one she seems to care about. A review here said the characters drowned in their helplessness or something to that effect. Obviously that person never made it to the end because obviously each of the characters has a new life full of promise by the end. Clearly Santiago couldn't sleep because he was losing his girlfriend who is a selfish bitch without redeeming feature. Estela is a victim bless her but Santiago can be as well and we imagine they're pretty safe with each other. Anxious to see what the writers do next!