DVD Review - Queens
Spanish director Manuel Gomez Pereira tackles a timely and sensitive subject - gay marriage - in a humorous but touching way. He wrote this charming screenplay with Yolanda Garcia Serrano.
The film tells the story of the first gay weddings in Spain (20 couples will tie the knot at once). Gay marriage has recently been legalized and people want to celebrate in a big way (Spain actually legalized gay marriage last year). The focus of the film is on three couples and their relationships with each other and their mothers and, in one case, father.
Some of the finest actresses in Spanish language cinema play the mothers. Veronica Forque is the neurotic, oversexed Nuria; Carmen Maura is the efficient, ambitious hotel owner Magda; Marisa Paredes is the self centered actress Reyes; Mercedes Sampietro plays a judge who just happens to be very judgmental; and Argentinean actress Betiana Blum plays a restaurant owner from Buenos Aires who brings along her lovely and very frisky dog for the visit (the dog is a central link to the people in this film). The widowed father Jacinto is played by Lluis Humar. Jacinto just happens to be Reyes' gardener. The three couples are played by Gustavo Salmeron (Hugo); Paco Leon (Narciso); Unax Ugalde (Miguel); Daniel Hendler (Oscar); Hugo Silva (Jonas); and Raul Jimenez (Rafa).
This story is really a universal one because it shows all of the tension that people have before a wedding. Everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong and every couple has a bout of the doubts. But in the end love prevails. This is a true ensemble piece and all of the actors work very well together. They are so comfortable with each other that you think they have known each other forever. And we have director Pereira to thank for that. I highly recommend this film if you want to see something entertaining that has a message (film also tackles class differences as well which is something that is also very important).
Spain, the country of the Inquisition and Franco, has come a long way and is now one of the most progressive countries in the world. The United States, which claims to uphold the rights of all people, wants to ban same sex marriage thereby relegating gay people to second class citizenship. Perhaps one day this country's policies will live up to the phrase "with liberty and justice for all."
The film tells the story of the first gay weddings in Spain (20 couples will tie the knot at once). Gay marriage has recently been legalized and people want to celebrate in a big way (Spain actually legalized gay marriage last year). The focus of the film is on three couples and their relationships with each other and their mothers and, in one case, father.
Some of the finest actresses in Spanish language cinema play the mothers. Veronica Forque is the neurotic, oversexed Nuria; Carmen Maura is the efficient, ambitious hotel owner Magda; Marisa Paredes is the self centered actress Reyes; Mercedes Sampietro plays a judge who just happens to be very judgmental; and Argentinean actress Betiana Blum plays a restaurant owner from Buenos Aires who brings along her lovely and very frisky dog for the visit (the dog is a central link to the people in this film). The widowed father Jacinto is played by Lluis Humar. Jacinto just happens to be Reyes' gardener. The three couples are played by Gustavo Salmeron (Hugo); Paco Leon (Narciso); Unax Ugalde (Miguel); Daniel Hendler (Oscar); Hugo Silva (Jonas); and Raul Jimenez (Rafa).
This story is really a universal one because it shows all of the tension that people have before a wedding. Everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong and every couple has a bout of the doubts. But in the end love prevails. This is a true ensemble piece and all of the actors work very well together. They are so comfortable with each other that you think they have known each other forever. And we have director Pereira to thank for that. I highly recommend this film if you want to see something entertaining that has a message (film also tackles class differences as well which is something that is also very important).
Spain, the country of the Inquisition and Franco, has come a long way and is now one of the most progressive countries in the world. The United States, which claims to uphold the rights of all people, wants to ban same sex marriage thereby relegating gay people to second class citizenship. Perhaps one day this country's policies will live up to the phrase "with liberty and justice for all."
posted by Film Fanatic | 3:17 PM
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