FILM TITLE: LA BUENA ESTRELLA (LUCKY STAR) DIRECTOR: RICARDO FRANCO COUNTRY: SPAIN 1997 CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tote Trenas MUSIC: Eva Gancedo CAST: Antonio Resines, Maribel Verdu, Jordi Molla, Elvira Minguez, Ramon Barea, Clara Sanchiz SUPER FEATURES: Story should hold you.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Seen at the 22nd Portland International Film Festival in Portland, Oregon)
It is good that when seeing this film, we finally get the impression that Spanish film makers can do much more than just a farce, or a satire, or some sort of surrealistic picture that defies description. Might make one think that all Spaniards are crazy. Well, we don't really care for all those Kleenex fantasies, either. If anything, LA BUENA ESTRELLA, is a film with some sort of normalcy, in the human spirit that we can actually believe and come to grips with. The question is, will the film also do it?.
Well, yes it does. Then again, it doesn't, as it makes the film appear to close to us, and too human for us to be able to buy into it. We've seen hundreds of these stories, few of them do we discuss, and many of them were literary works that we consider them best discussed in class rooms, rather than accept that our own neighbors may be living a similar life. Reality is always so far away for us to accept and live with. But the sad thing about the film is that it makes women look stupid and secondary to many male wishes and desires, which is simply not true, or a valid point in these modern times. There maybe many of us old fashioned ones, but modern day Spain is not too far off the rest of us all.
Rafael, owns a meat market, and there he has been able to make a living. On a fateful day, he is driving home and finds someone being attacked. Actually she is not being attacked, she is being molested by her boyfriend. Rafael stops and runs him off. He takes Marina to the Hospital and then home, where he proceeds to offer her shelter. She is pregnant. Simple enough. However, it appears that Marina has been forced to into prostitution, or equivalent so that she could make some money for herself and the boyfriend. As it turns out, the boyfriend gets himself in jail for a few years, which helps things. Marina has settled in with Rafael, and her daughter is growing. Unfortunately, Rafael has had a childhood accident that has prevented him from becoming a full man, and this may eat apart at Marina's fiber. As the film wears on, she can never let go of her boyfriend.
He gets out of jail with his pride intact. And eventually finds his way to Rafael's house where Marina has been. And Rafael, being the good Samaritan that he is,lets him in. And in no time, Dani is also having sex with Rafael, even though she warns him that she doesn't trust herself. She is still in love with Dani. Rafael may be her family now, but there is one unresolved thing that she has not been able to deal with.
She leaves, she returns. He leaves, he returns. Dani leaves, he returns. The triangle is in full bloom. Rafael does not know what to do. Marina says that Dani will leave sooner or later as he always has. An opportunity arises to get Dani out of the house. But this only gets Dani in jail again, and this time his pride is broken. And it kills him. And in the end, it also has killed Marina.
Actually, this reviewer hates these stories. Makes everyone seem stupid and not able to resolve their short comings, in order to lead a reasonably happy and appreciative life. But, this opinion fails on one thing. It does not take in consideration the human spirit and the way that we are. A little animal, and a lot human. The film right off the bat, gives us that impression, unfortunately, it is badly juxtaposed to the story and unnecessary. Is this a comment about us all being animals just because Rafael is a butcher? That we have no sense or care about people and relationships like a butcher would have for a piece of meat? Rafael is certainly well defined in this area, even if the part of him that could easily make him an "animal" is no longer operational. But if the film were to make that point a little further in the end, a Butcher truck would have driven by in the background and made it clear that the animals are dead, and the humans have lived on. Maybe this would have offended many of us. As it is it ends in a respectful manner, and a rather positive one considering the situation. Rafael is too human and too caring, and will raise the two daughters and take care of them.
Acting is what this film is really about, at least for three characters. Maribel Verdu (La Belle Epoque, Amantes), is really good, as the emotionally frail Marina. Antonio Resines is really fine, subdued way too much but still very fine. A nice contrast. And Jordi Molla (the Flower of My Secret, Jamon Jamon) is over the top, and crazy, as his character really is. His manhood is not measured in his love, or in his ability to provide for the one woman that he can not let go of. And all three of them could have really done this film in at any moment were it not for the caring sequences that maintain the story going. It never blows its cool, and it manages to solve things, never "animalizes" the situation. The characters have their desire to contend with and even Rafael tries to outdo Dani, but the love Marina has for him has less to do with that, and she reminds him of that.
But what is really fine in this film is the ending sequences, that are excellently directed and filmed. When Rafael goes to visit Dani in jail, the way it is photographed is magnificent and the expressions couldn't be more perfect. Total juxtaposition. Basically two broken men, differently so, yet they have something so much in common, which has to end in some sort of sad resolution. However, that resolution is not a resolution but an end.
A very nice film, acting and directing wise. A love triangle that has a fateful resolution, but not in a negative way. The offsprings will be well taken care of.
4 of 5 GIBLOONS Reviewed by Pedro Sena, Copyright (c) Pedro Sena 1999. All Rights Reserved.
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