Spoilers
Noviember is quite a unique piece of work that I caught in the 'Euro Vision' festival in town. Very much like Into the Void, in documentary form, the story is told by alternating between the main story line and the interview-type narration of the characters some years later (about a half dozen of them compared with 2 in Into the Void). But hang on for a second ..these character are not real! The story is entirely fictional, but made to look like a documentary.
The story starts with young actor Alfredo arriving in Madrid for adventure in the late 90s (which makes the 'now' in the movie somewhere in the 2030s or 2040s, guessing from the age of the 'real' characters interviewed). There, he meets Lucia who soon becomes his wife. When discussing their initial motivation for acting, Alfred intimates that it's to a large extent out of love for his wheelchair-confined brother, from both physical handicap and mental disorder. Lucia, on the other hand, attributes it to sibling rivalry, kind of the 'Baby Jane' syndrome.
Together with a group of friends who share the same passion for acting, the two embark on their venture. The unique thing is that in their vision to bring the theatre to the public, they shun any indoor performance venue which would imply an admission ticket. They do all their performances outdoors, right in the streets, and they steadfastly refuse to accept any money for their performances. The movie follows this group's performances which are presented in pseudo-documentary style, complete with fictitious dates, in the streets of Madrid, culminating in a unexpected and quite devastating ending.
Between hilarity and poignancy, and everything in between, this movie has a great deal to offer. A fascinating movie, particularly if you love performing arts. It won the FIPRESCI prize in the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival.
Noviember is quite a unique piece of work that I caught in the 'Euro Vision' festival in town. Very much like Into the Void, in documentary form, the story is told by alternating between the main story line and the interview-type narration of the characters some years later (about a half dozen of them compared with 2 in Into the Void). But hang on for a second ..these character are not real! The story is entirely fictional, but made to look like a documentary.
The story starts with young actor Alfredo arriving in Madrid for adventure in the late 90s (which makes the 'now' in the movie somewhere in the 2030s or 2040s, guessing from the age of the 'real' characters interviewed). There, he meets Lucia who soon becomes his wife. When discussing their initial motivation for acting, Alfred intimates that it's to a large extent out of love for his wheelchair-confined brother, from both physical handicap and mental disorder. Lucia, on the other hand, attributes it to sibling rivalry, kind of the 'Baby Jane' syndrome.
Together with a group of friends who share the same passion for acting, the two embark on their venture. The unique thing is that in their vision to bring the theatre to the public, they shun any indoor performance venue which would imply an admission ticket. They do all their performances outdoors, right in the streets, and they steadfastly refuse to accept any money for their performances. The movie follows this group's performances which are presented in pseudo-documentary style, complete with fictitious dates, in the streets of Madrid, culminating in a unexpected and quite devastating ending.
Between hilarity and poignancy, and everything in between, this movie has a great deal to offer. A fascinating movie, particularly if you love performing arts. It won the FIPRESCI prize in the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival.