FILM TITLE: HI, ARE YOU ALONE DIRECTOR: ICIAR BOLLAIN COUNTRY: SPAIN 1995 CINEMATOGRAPHY: TEO DELGADO MUSIC: BERNARDO BONEZZI CAST: Silke, Candela Pena, Alex Angulo, Arcadi Levin, Elena Irureta, Iciar Bollain SUPER FEATURES: The two girls.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess not all films that come out of Spain are top notch productions, or deserve the acclaim that Spanish films have been receiving in Film Festivals, where they seem to be doing so well.
Hi, Are You Alone? is not a great film, but it is a slight fast paced romp that allows us to flow through an hour and a half without thinking much. For that it is a nice film. If it has ideas, notions and themes, they are not grandeurized in the tragedy of life, or made much fuss over it, beyond each of the girls' desires, and flow. In this sense the whole film takes its attitude and style from the two girls' generation. They are impetuous, undecided, dreamy, and willing to try different things, and learn from the knocks along the way. And of course, these prices, often cost some to each person.
It is a rather simple story. One girl gets caught in bed with her boyfriend, and dad gets mad. She leaves home. The other girl gets no exposition per se, but apparently she has no parents. They both end up living in the same place, when one day they get thrown out by the landlady who has found someone who will pay the rent with money.
And the two girls end up leaving for the south of Spain, in the hope of making a better life for themselves, but not after Trini meets a Russian fellow, with whom she ends up being in love. At the critical moment, when she is leaving the guy also disappears, a sign that he may have been an illegal immigrant anyway, and the girls go south. They end up visiting Trini's mom, who is trying to open up a bar. The girls end up working for her, until one day, they realize that the mother is not going to pay them. They leave, and decide to return back north, where Trini is going to try and find the Russian boyfriend.
While the film has moments of enjoyment, the interplay between the girls is what makes this film work, to what is a rather quiet, unassuming film that just wants to go through a day without a hassle -- just like the girls -- and trying to show off its intellectual verve. IN this sense it is a lesser film than many others we have seen, which tend to be "meaningful" and "pointed". This film might even be considered a B movie, if the shooting style, film stocks ( terribly faded and old looking ), and directing are any indications at all. the film has a hurried look, which works fine for the girls, and a decided lackadaisical attitude towards the many things and ideas when it has a chance to comment on them.
This is not a bad film. It just isn't a great film.
3 GIBLOONS Pedro Sena Member of the Internet Movie Critics Association
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