j_o_n_n_24 Los lunes al sol follows the lives of a group of Galician ship builders who have been made redundant. Fernando de Leon, the director, has commented in interviews that Brit-grit director Ken Loach is among his biggest influences. In its focus on a world of brooding, inarticulate males whose wives are the breadwinners, the film certainly suggests parallels with English films such as Riff-Raff, The Full Monty and Brassed Off. As in these films, unemployed men struggle in reconciling traditional masculinity with a post-industrial society which no longer values their skills.As usual, Leon elicits some great performances from his actors: a paunched Javier Bardem is fantastic as the sardonic womaniser, Santa; Luis Tosar is convincingly intense as his buddy José. While Santa hurls bricks at a streetlight in protest, Tosar observes his lot with a quiet, uncomprehending desperation. As in his other films Barrio and Princesas, however, Leon's improvised, episodic approach to film-making ultimately backfires: loose and meandering, the film too often loses its focus. Also, certain sequences lapse into a sentimentality which undercuts Leon's commitment to realism. This is compounded by the unfortunate choice soundtrack: limp and sugary, it lends it the feel of an overlong soap opera. Take My Eyes (Iciar Bollaín) is a much more controlled and subtle handling of Spanish social realism.

Saruman-1 Almost nothing happens in this film, which is an important part of the message, which is after all about the boring life of the unemployed. There is comedy (especially Javier Bardem as the rebellious, witty Santa does his best in this department), there is drama, but the few really good ideas in this film are drawn out over too long a time. This works to the film's detriment, creating a plodding, slow, experience where a piece of about two thirds its length would have been interesting. Again, I do realize that the slowness is trying to be part of its message; still, adding scene after scene of essentially the same troubles of an unemployed life was not a good idea in my opinion.

dutchtom1 Quentin Crisp once stated that when things are shown too beautifully, one is a romantic. When things are show unbearably grim, they are realistic. And when something gets the ironic treatment, they're spot on. Unfortunately for Leon de Aranoa, he falls into the second catagory. This director has obviously tried too hard to make a Spanish "Ken Loach" type movie, without being able to capture the comedy, and warmth between the characters, that elevate Loach movies from merely being 'depressing'. Los Lunes al Sol, is just that, only depressing. Things are unrealistically grim. The characters ultimate moments of misery all reach a climax at the same point, and if the glum story isn't enough, Aranoa washes the tale over with a visually grey and grimy colour palette. The films was ridiculously over-rated at the Goyas. A movie that shows empathy for the weaker citizens in society, in this case unemployed harbour workers, does not automatically make for a good movie, even though I would be the first to sympathize with the fates of these people. This movie only manages to make me grow disinterested in their fate. In 21st century Spain, unemployed people do not live like beggars, and the public transport ferries have decent restrooms, and it's hard to come across a bar with so few punters and such little happiness to be encountered in it. Leon de Aranoa obviously doesn't have a clue about working class Spain, and does it no favours. Pretentious is the only conclusion I can draw. The scene where the men watch a football match for free, has been directly copied from a film which deals much more 'realistically' with the subject of the 'poverty' trap, namely "Purely Belter," which is afar more engaging, humorous, and yet sad.

Brian This is a great movie about middle aged men being put out to pasture. The movie actually is a film rather than a verbal story glued to a bunch of special effects. The story is told by the focus of the camera, the objects pictured, and a tilt of a head, rather than by a bunch of talking. This is what film is about. Thank God the Europeans didn't forget it. To a large extent, American filmakers have. If you like movies about the human experience that give you fresh insight, see this movie. It is to film what "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is to poetry. Except that the main character struggles to remain a strong and virile man in the face of emasculaing business, while Prufrock was more of a frightened person in the face of discovering his mediocrity.