I saw three films at the Melies: The Savages, Be Kind Rewind and Cashback. The first two I'd seen before but I like to watch movies while on vacation (and obviously I like to do that when not on vacation too) so I watched them again. Spain's larger theatres only play dubbed films so you have to seek out the smaller ones like the Melies to get them in their original language. These were all subtitled into Catalonian rather than Spanish which was kind of cool.The Savages is a smart, biting dark comedy about a brother and sister who are forced to deal with their father's slide into the mental abyss. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are at the top of their game--is PSH ever not?
Be Kind Rewind does not hold up for a second viewing. While enjoyable, a closer look at the film reveals a flimsy picture and Jack Black doing some of the worst overacting in his career (who has built a career built on overacting).
Cashback is an English film that has one major element to it that I'm obsessed by: the ability to stop time. If a story has time travel or time stoppage in it, I'm usually into it. This is a coming of age film with time stopping, lots of female nudity and some funny bits about a guy in art school. I'd never heard of it so any film I've never heard of with time stopping in it at 10.30 on a Thursday night in Barcelona is going to be good.
(photo of Melies + some stranger in the entryway by The Hidden Staircase)
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