I've mentioned this before on the blog, but it's worth mentioning twice, three times, as many times as you want. When even the critics weep, with their hearts of ink, then it's worth mentioning. Mar adentro (The Sea Within - check out the trailer at the link), a truly brilliant film by Alejandro Amenábar about Ramón Sampedro and starring Javier Bardem, is wowing them at the Venice Film Festival. I saw and reviewed the film for Variety in July, was duly stunned by it (the review now reads as though it was written by someone who'd been stunned into inarticulacy, and I can't link to it because Variety is a pay site). Since then the film has lingered on in my mind like few others, and seems to have become a part of me. I now feel that the review I wrote didn't say the half of it. Mar adentro is one to be seen and reseen and considered carefully, a film that reaffirms life through talking about death, that touches emotions which are too-rarely touched in front of a cinema screen, especially a Spanish one. Powerful stuff, and an instant Spanish classic - and it's probably coming to a cinema near you before Christmas 2004. You could probably do worse than have a flutter on Bardem for the Oscar - though that's no recommendation, of course. He must be getting sick of being described as "chameleonlike". There are criticisms you could make - that Sampedro, for example, can't possibly have been as saintly as Bardem is as him, and that the film is overtly manipulative and even a little overschematic - but such protests are swamped by it's compelling emotional logic. You can't gush on like this in a review, of course - you're a critic, and critics aren't human beings. If you're looking for a more balanced opinion than mine, then this is a nice article (in Spanish).

Incidentally, the Spanish premiere was attended by Zapatero and lots of his cabinet members - they want to be seen supporting Spanish cinema - which has led to (swiftly-denied) suggestions that they're about to reform the euthanasia laws.

A Spanish masterpiece; one of the great recent horror films (The Others); visited by presidents who are interested in his opinions on life and death. Alejandro Amenábar is 32.

Update: Actually, you can read the review here, though For Some Reason It All Looks Like This. Which Actually Makes It Almost Unreadable.
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