47/20
At his 50 Julian, divorced and with a cash problem, uses an app to share a car to travel Madrid. Falling in love with Lorena, an usual passenger, his troubles start when in a journey two strangers join them.. Filmed in the Hotel Marqués de Riscal.. Features Πέρυσι στο Μαρίενμπαντ (1961). mr. Blue Skyby Electric Light Orchestra. Alex de la Iglesia’s black comedy -mostly filmed on the Castilian highway and at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal- dealing with a crazy road movie, being well paced, competently played and delightfully entertaining. Alex de la Iglesia turns a thriller/comedy in his sui-generis style. At his 50 Julian (Alberto San Juan), divorced and with a money problem, uses 'BlaBlaCar' app to share car to travel Madrid. Falling in love with Lorena (Blanca Suárez), an usual passenger and now he wants to take advantage of the next journey to confess his feelings for her. However, he makes a mistake when choosing the remaining occupants, the annoying Rodrigo (Ernesto Alterio) and fastidious Sergio (Rubén Cortada). So his problems begin when in a journey two strangers join with them. Black comedy, bemusing situations, and rare roles by offbeat filmmaker Álex De La Iglesia who wrote as well, along with his customary screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarría. Álex de la Iglesia brings us a very mixed bag of outlandish characters, rapid dialogues, and absurd situations in a luxury car. De la Iglesia goes back to the black comedy terrain of previous works, focusing on the relationship between four off-the-wall roles. A disconcerting road movie combined with a romantic comedy, being an austerely enjoyable and brightly colored film. It can be very funny and very moving at the same time, so it was the perfect combination for me. This is a peculiar and fun flick in which Álex establishes again his uniquely breathtaking and visually striking style. A madcap road movie that boasts a nice and attractive cast. Enjoyable interpretations from Alberto San Juan as a divorced 50-year-old man with cash problems who resorts to using an app to share his car, Blanca Suárez as his undercover love interest, Rubén Cortada as the good-looking, free-spirited young man and special mention for Ernesto Alterio who steals the show as the deranged, troublesome passenger who will spark a dramatic change in the course of events. This black humored picture was competently directed by Álex de la Iglesia produced in his New brand of horror films he calls ¨The Fear Collection¨ along with his wife Carolina Bang, in fact , the character played by Alberto San Juan bears a certain resemblance to Álex, because he’s a divorced man, as De La Iglesia who recently married a woman twenty years younger, Carolina Bang herself; similar to Blanca Suárez and Alberto San Juan, both of whom are indeed separated 20 years from each other. As has become common in Álex de la Iglesia’s filmography, this new entry swings between humor, thriller and tension, in this case in the guise of a hilarious road movie combined with a romantic comedy and joining fine actors who have previously worked with the Basque filmmaker, such as: Ernesto Alterio and Blanca Suárez in ¨The Bar¨. Alex De La Iglesia is a cool director who has got many successes, such as: ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby’s room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨, ¨Perdita Durango¨, among others. This is without a doubt a thrilling and agreeable movie to be enjoyed for dark humor buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans, the Spanish king of black comedy. Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable. Well worth watching.