Review of The Tunnel

The Tunnel (2016)
6/10
Passable dramedy about a motley group who saves from a tunnel collapse , subsequently facing off their hard lives
23 June 2020
"Los del Túnel" (Those from the Tunnel) is about a group composed by thirteen people , trapped in a tunnel that it collapsed spending 15 days inside it with their day-by-day outside it . United in the sad tragedy and remembering Norberto , the only one person who died , the group decides reunite themselves , sharing their experience and his daily troubles . In the group are the following ones : Toni (Arturo Valls) , an egoistic , unsettling and lost family father usually hearing ¨Pecos¨band music in the car , with a daughter who doesn't understand and a spouse , Sole (Nuria Mencia) , who runs a photocopier shop with no much success ; Julio (Raul Cimas) , a police officer who saved to Miriam (Natalia De Molina) and falls in love with her , another member of the group ; the failed marriage : Víctor (Manel Barceló) and Lupe (Neus Asensi) , parents of adolescent girl Hiedra who attempts to reconcile their broken family ; Rafi, a teen thug who falls in love for Hiedra ; Adela, who cares of her aged parents , Camila (Teresa Gimpera) and Segundo (Jesús Guzmán) , and lost her husband Norberto ; Walter, a Colombian immigrant without money who tries to move his family to Spain ; José Manuel (Manolo Solo) and Esteban (Enrique Martinez) , a gay couple attempting out of the closet ; López (Pedro Pol) , another cop and Julio's colleague , who remains in coma in a hospital and he subsequently awakes up but remembering nothing . All of them are searching for enjoy the second chance to rebuild their existences , but life outside the tunnel gets awry , that's why it isn't as they would expect . They say they are fine (Dicen que están bien).

This dramedy : drama more comedy , deals with a motley group who are free after to stand fifteen days locked , they are the thirteen survivors of a catastrophe by a tunnel's collapse that attempt to balance their experience after being trapped , subsequently they reunite to dinner every Friday , but things go wrong . A black comedy with a little bit of drama here and in which a misfit group joins to solve troubles in order to get better them , but they soon crash against a reality harder than they thought . Concerning a group of peculiar roles who in their most are full of problems , as all of them are searching for a better future , new hopes and an enjoyable sense to their broken lives . Agreeable film full of sympathy , outlandish characters , haunting mood-pieces , fun scenes , strange humor and sense of style but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls . The picture deals with drama , off-the-wall comedy , familiar absurdities and anything else . Black humor gives way to strange as well as hilarious situations , closely followed by embarrassing events that doesn't take long in coming to a head in an ending pandemonium . It is so excessive and outrageous that blends mayhem , as well as a funny script by filmmaker himself . And being a choral film in Luis Garcia Berlanga style with plenty of dark humor , entertainment , and exciting situations . This is not the typical comedy by this time , here there is a brief character studio about some eccentric roles . Highlights of the movie are some amusing recreation of the protagonists when the tunnel collapses and the happenings they allegedly experience when trying to find a way out . Some scenes drag a little , but there's a certain warmth and mirth flowing throughout the story that's why it actually works , at times . The cast is pretty good , as the main role Toni well played by Arturo Valls as a disturbing narcissist and self-worshiping family man who finds himself lost in his unconventional family and his wife finely performed by Nuria Mencía as a strange woman stuck by her teen dreams . As well as Manolo Solo and Enrique Martinez play nicely a homosexual couple who attempt to announce their relation to their families . And brief appearances by other notorious secondaries as María Alfonso Rosso , Marta Fernandez Muro and the very veteran actors Teresa Gimpera and Jesús Gúzman playing a likeable old marriage .

The moton picture was professionally Juán Maidagan and directed by Pepón Montero, though it has some flaws and gaps , resulting to be a little bit boring . It was Nominee Feroz Awards, ES 2018 , Special Award to Pepón Montero . The craftsman Pepón Montero is a writer and producer, known for Pluton BRB Nero (2008) , Chiringuito de Pepe (2014) , Los del túnel (2016), Justo antes de Cristo (2019) and Plaza de España (2011). Rating : 5.5/10.
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