El futuro (2013) User Reviews

Context Needed

[jon-832 · 5/10 · 21 April 2016]

I think there is a lot of context needed for this film, and will likely only be really accessible to people from Spain, or who at least speak Spanish. This film is "about" a lot of young people enjoying their lives at a party, soon after the Socialist Party came to power in the 1980s. They seem to be having a fairly carefree time, perhaps acknowledging the optimism felt in Spain at the time. The film places as much emphasis on the music as the dialogue, and in the subtitles English version the music is subtitled ahead of the conversations between characters. There also seems to be some attempt to make this look more naturally shot, as there are lots of poorly framed close-ups and difficulty getting shots in focus. The director also inserted a lot of "errors", again I would assume to give it a more homemade feeling.

I tried to be positive but as someone living in Canada, with no connection to Spain, I felt absolutely nothing watching this film. In fact if anything, there was a sense that the future was not as bright as the people hoped. The film often cut out in the middle of scenes, and the film stock gets progressively worse throughout the movie. I would also say that it seems somewhat strange for this movie to be made in 2013. If it were from the era it portrays it could be a bit more of a "capturing the mood" piece, but unless it is supposed to be a metaphor for the post-2009 recession issues for Spain, it seems somewhat behind the times/ I have no idea who to possibly recommend this film to, but at worst it is only 67 minutes long.

A very original and inspiring movie. The use of music is amazing

[jhalaban · 9/10 · 26 August 2013]

Regarding the film's music, I consider an issue that is very important: Could it be diegetic or extra-diegetic music? If we remember that he saw a group of friends or acquaintances, sharing a few drinks, and dancing pleasantries at times, you can consider that music that we, the viewers, we hear, is the same as listening to the characters. Thus we might consider that it is diegetic music. But thinking a little more, especially paying attention to the words of the songs, it seems unlikely that a group of people who want to have fun, so relaxed, they decide to hear these issues, at least on that occasion. Then I think the proper conclusion is that it is extra-diegetic music. There is another element that paid this claim: we do not see at any time, to any of the characters, manipulate any music player. This leads to another question: If the music we hear, not what you hear them, hear what the characters? Did not you hear any music? But the important thing is that if we agree that music is extra-diegetic, and remember the somber tone of the letters, the scenes of the film is completely redefine, and to allow a political reading of it. They try to portray the evolution of the urban, middle-class in appearance, that would be distracting "on the deck of the Titanic". While they dance, talk and drink, there is a world out there that gives us some happy future, and they do not seem to want or be able to know.