Berlanga's depiction of an executioner who unwillingly accepts the role to save his family/apartment is highly laudable effort. He perfectly used the premise to bring out the black-clever comedy throughout, even though it missed the mark at times, still succeeded in evoking genuine laughs. A bit tedious in the middle but once it gets into the heart of the story, events pertaining to the " execution " which unravel during the course made this one a great watch.
The one particular scene, where Luis tries to stop an argument between two guys , as he thinks this might leads to a fight and somebody would get killed which may eventually gets to him to execute the killer is indeed a clever witty stroke from Berlanga and the depiction of lead character dilemma in the final jail sequence is beautifully captured and shot, finest. Had he maintained similar structure throughout, this would've been an easy 5 star for me, still I enjoyed this. Deserves a watch for is perfect usage of B&W color palette , natural performances from the cast and Berlanga's direction.
The one particular scene, where Luis tries to stop an argument between two guys , as he thinks this might leads to a fight and somebody would get killed which may eventually gets to him to execute the killer is indeed a clever witty stroke from Berlanga and the depiction of lead character dilemma in the final jail sequence is beautifully captured and shot, finest. Had he maintained similar structure throughout, this would've been an easy 5 star for me, still I enjoyed this. Deserves a watch for is perfect usage of B&W color palette , natural performances from the cast and Berlanga's direction.