50/46

Features The Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

At 50, Julian, divorced and struggling with money, uses a car-sharing app to travel around Madrid. In love with Lorena, a regular passenger, his problems begin when two strangers join him on a trip. Filmed at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal. Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra.

Alex de la Iglesia turns a thriller/comedy in his sui-generis style

Alex de la Iglesia's black comedy - filmed mainly on the Castilian highway and at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal - deals with a crazy road movie, being well-paced, competently acted and delightfully funny. At 50, Julian (Alberto San Juan), divorced and struggling with money, uses the car-sharing app 'BlaBlaCar' to travel around Madrid. He has fallen in love with Lorena (Blanca Suárez), a regular passenger, and now he wants to take advantage of the next trip to confess his feelings for her. However, he makes a mistake when choosing the remaining passengers, the boring Rodrigo (Ernesto Alterio) and the annoying Sergio (Rubén Cortada). Then his problems begin when two strangers join them on a trip.

A disconcerting road movie combined with a romantic comedy, it is an austerely pleasant film with bright colors

Black comedy, confusing situations and rare roles from the eccentric filmmaker Álex De La Iglesia, who also wrote it, together with his regular screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarría. Álex de la Iglesia brings us a mix of extravagant characters, fast-paced dialogues and absurd situations in a luxury car. De la Iglesia returns to the black comedy terrain of his previous works, focusing on the relationship between four eccentric roles. It can be very funny and very moving at the same time, so it was the perfect combination for me. This is a quirky and entertaining film in which Álex once again establishes his unique style of breathtaking and visually stunning filmmaking.

A wacky road movie that boasts a likable and attractive cast

Enjoyable performances by Alberto San Juan as a 50-year-old divorced man with money problems who resorts to using an app to share his car, Blanca Suárez as his undercover love interest, Rubén Cortada as the handsome and free-spirited young man and special mention to Ernesto Alterio who steals the show as the troubled and troubled passenger who will trigger a dramatic change in the course of events. This dark comedy film was competently directed by Álex de la Iglesia, produced in his new brand of horror films that he calls ¨The Fear Collection¨ together with his wife Carolina Bang, in fact, the character played by Alberto San Juan bears a certain resemblance to Álex, because he is a divorced man, like De La Iglesia who recently married a woman twenty years younger, Carolina Bang herself; similar to Blanca Suárez and Alberto San Juan, both separated by 20 years. As is common in Álex de la Iglesia's filmography, this new entry oscillates between humor, suspense and tension, in this case in the form of a hilarious road movie combined with a romantic comedy and joining excellent actors who have already worked with the Basque filmmaker, such as: Ernesto Alterio and Blanca Suárez in ¨The Bar¨. Alex De La Iglesia is a great director who has had many successes, such as: ¨Accion Mutante¨, ¨Dying of laughing¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨, ¨Baby's room¨, ¨Oxford murders¨, ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨, ¨Perdita Durango¨, among others. This is undoubtedly a thrilling and enjoyable film to be enjoyed by fans of dark humor and fans of Alex De Iglesia, the Spanish king of dark comedy.

Acceptable and passable

Rating: 6/10. Worth watching.