La mujer sin piano (2009) User Reviews

Quirky, slow and refreshingly original

[johno-21 · 8/10 · 2 February 2010]

I saw this last month at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Rosa (Carmen Machi) is the wife of a Madrid taxi driver and she runs an ex foliating business from her home catering to wealthy city women. One night, after her husband Francisco (Pep Ricart) has gone to sleep, and after a day of a series of frustrating events including not being able to get a package from the post office because her driver's license is expired, she removes a painting from the wall over their bed, puts it in a closet then puts on a black wig and heads out into the night. She encounters more minor frustrating experiences and throughout the night she encounters a series of night people in bars, restaurants, hotels, train stations and on buses. One man she meets is the strange but friendly and courteous Radek (Jan Budar) who is from Poland and is half mad and half genius and is wanted by authorities. This is strange, quirky and slow paced but darkly comedic and pretty fun. It leaves you with many questions that go unanswered and that's kind of fun. An excellent with stage actress Machi who was a late-comer to film and television and can also be seen in the new Pedro Almodóvar film 'Broken Embraces.' Czech actor/write/composer Budar is a great compliment to Machi's role. this is the second feature film from writer/director Javier Rebello and I will look forward to more in the future. It's an original kind of film. Great editing from Angel Hernandez and a fantastic look from art director Miguel Angel Rebello and cinematographer Santiago Racaj. Some people hated this movie but I liked it and would give it an 8.0 out of 10.