akidd2468 Don't you love those hidden gems? Off work and feeling miserable, found this and for two hours suspended my disbelief and my feelings of illness! A slight story, based on what actually happened, in Spain in 1966. Some have said the pace is a little slow, I found every scene perfectly shot and perfectly timed. Hints of politics, pop music, the beat generation, the older generation, bullying, love, sex, disability, revenge, honour, integrity and connecting. An anti-hero in the non-clichéd sense and naturalistic performances all round. This is a beautiful little film, and if I tell you my favourite film ever is Local hero, well, that should be both a clue and recommendation enough!

TxMike I found this movie on Netflix streaming and it is a real gem of a movie but English-only fans need to do a lot of reading subtitles. Most of it is in Spanish, and of course set and filmed in Spain.My first attraction to the movie is its title, that phrase and the song "Strawberry Fields" have been favorites of mine since the 1970s. The phrase, "living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" is one of the more profound in any form of writing. Set in 1966, Javier Cámara is 40-something Antonio, a teacher of English in a small Spanish city. He has become an ardent Beatles fan and uses lyrics from their songs to help teach. He finds out that John Lennon is an actor in the 1967 British film "How I Won The War", being filmed not too far away, in Almería, so he borrows his dad's old car and sets out on a road trip. He matter of factly plans to find Lennon and meet him.Along the way he quickly meets two runaways looking for rides. The first is a young 20s Natalia de Molina as Belén. She doesn't seem too particular about where she goes and accepts the offer of a ride. The second is teenager Francesc Colomer as Juanjo. We see some of his family dynamics and his dad is very hard on him, insisting he cut his mop of hair short, among other things, so he hits the road.It is not possible in a written review to describe the wonderful dynamics that develop among this trio. Antonio is a very nice man, he easily does favors for others, and because he always has been teaching children never has had time for a wife and family.This is one of the best movies I have seen this year.SPOILERS: The three find a temporary base in a small fishing and strawberry village on the sea, Juanjo gets a menial job at the restaurant/bar. After one day and just before bed in separate rooms, Antonia tells Belén how pretty she is and calmly wonders if she would consider marrying him. Then he tells her he would marry her. The day before he found out she was 3 months pregnant. That same night Belén has a romantic encounter with Juanjo, but basically tells him he is too young. Antonio finally does manage to get a few minutes with Lennon in his trailer and comes out with his portable recorder, with an early version of "Strawberry Fields" sung and played by Lennon. As they all part he tells Belén you know where to find me, if you ever need me for anything.

gabidragomir I gave this film a chance. It was on TV. I was in doubt. Then I realized how good it is. Pure Poetry. A journey through relationships, events and symbols. It looks like all the characters are so well designed, the relationship in between them. Two worlds are presented, the old generation vs the new generation, the hippie one. It has some nice landscapes also. It has a very nice music. It has rhythm. The movie is so well designed; you can meet in this movie three characters, one belonging to the adult generation, a teacher, and two kids. But I don't want to spoil it. You can also find lots of wisdom in this film. Just give it a try! Give it a try!

lennonalmeriaforever The factual story of Juan Carrion has never been spread before and should be known by everyone interested in The Beatles and involved in Education from now on thanks to this great movie. It shows an actual character, a Spanish teacher of English who begun to teach English through Beatles songs as soon as the Fabs became famous and when he found out John Lennon was acting in Almeria location he aimed to meet him to thank him for his involuntary played role as a teacher -ironic, being John so reluctant of teachers-. The plot is not focused only on this teacher but on two youngsters who have left their homes for different reasons. It is a good feelings road movie to Almeria, where by that year of 1966 had turned into the European Hollywood. Since Lawrence of Arabia was shot over there, Clint Eastwood,Anthonny Quinn, Brigite Bardot and so many other stars had passed by the same sunny place than John Lennon. It was not because of his likening of The Beatles, nor liberty nor politics who drove Juan to meet John but his deep respect for his pupils. He wanted to have the lyrics first to provide their pupils with them as soon as possible. For millions of non-English native speakers Beatles fans around the world Beatles songs used to mean more sounds than words and messages. Unfortunately, for those whose mother tongue is English have been very difficult to understand that English have to be learned hardly day by day. When Seargent Pepper's album came out with its lyrics printed, that decision was taken as a normal one. But no one -not even the cleverest Beatles researchers- until nowadays had a reason why The Beatles decided to do so. The reason remained in Almeria, Spain, between John and this man called Juan Carrion. I sincerely hope 'Living is easy' gets to your countries soon so that you can enjoy of this beautiful movie and the story behind.