Alcarràs 2022

A bit depressing, made me feel homesick. It bothers me that other than the rich destroy the small farmer, it doesn't offer any optimistic message or solution. It just says what we already know.

I don't understand how this film has won the golden bear. And much less how it's nominated for best film at the Goya. I finished watching it because I don't like to leave movies half done.

Like a senile old man: it retells the same story we've heard hundreds of times before and didn't even like the first time.

Guess what, working on a farm is hard and getting harder and technology is progressing. Of all the films I've seen in this genre, this is one of the least original.

Typical recent bland European drama, which does not stand out in anything. Plot, characters, acting, cinematography, all pretty much forgettable. Cannot figure out why it won the Golden Bear.

Rural Spanish neorealism that addresses the crisis of traditional agriculture (while surreptitiously avoiding labor exploitation) to portray a family facing the extinction of their way of life. It does not have the thematic richness of "Utama" (2022), with which it shares some reflections and the use of non-professional actors, and unnecessarily lengthens in the childish gaze, which does not suffer from the present but faces an uncertain future. But this film, which has beautiful cinematography but a superfluous narrative, doesn't provide the emotion it needs because it doesn't know how to build characters that, beyond the amateurism of the actors, feel authentic.

The story is fine and well narrated but it could be done in 20 minutes and with much less childish games.

My top film of 2023 (the year it released here in Australia; I was lucky to catch it at the Spanish Film Festival). I've seen this kind of rural drama played out many times before, including another Catalan film from the same year ("Suro", almost as excellent as this) but there's something especially absorbing about this one, with a scattershot three-generation family living on a Peach farm that they're on the verge of losing due to a legal issue. Director Simón has a real gift for drawing believable performances out of amateur actors, and the film's digressions into moments in the daily lives of the family make the film feel lived-in in a way that is incredibly rare.

Plus, those final shots of the film. Oof, my heart.