Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey, above left), Al Giordino (Steve Zahn, above right), and Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz, below) take on the adventure of their lives. - CONTRIBUTED
La Buena Vida (The Good Life) is a lovely film. It is a film which bounces between the hilarious and the poignant as it shows a 14 year-old boy on his way to manhood. Written and directed by David Trueba, the movie is a wondrous demonstration that not only is life made up of the good and the bad, but the bad makes the good better.
Essentially, The Good Life is about growing up. Tristán (Fernando Ramallo) is 14 years old and he is ready for manhood. He already knows what it is he wants to do; he wants to be a writer. This allows much of the early movie to be told from his perspective in a beautiful lighthearted manner. He has already begun writing the story of his life, he is engaged in drama and he is doing very well in school.
However, his journey to manhood has what appears to be a very big obstacle - his virginity.
UNREQUITED LOVE
As such, Tristán sees his parents' trip to Paris as the perfect opportunity to get beyond this. His grand plan is to find a prostitute to help alleviate him of his trouble.
Unfortunately, he is also about to be introduced to tragedy and Tristán will find that over the next several days and months he will have to grow up a lot more than he imagined. Tristán will have to deal with the loss of loved ones, as well as an unrequited love.
His love life is where the movie gets a little tricky, because it is thus that Tristán displays some royalty complex. He is in love with his cousin, the wild, spirited Lucía (Lucía Jiménez), who has been sexually aware from very young. She is his ideal woman (and for some reason nobody sees his wish to enter into relation with his cousin as strange).
MANY WOMEN
Tristan has to balance his relationship with many women, as he understands his place with them and in the world. There is his teacher Isabelle (Isabel Otero), Lucia, his mother (Vicky Peña), Tía Carmen (Munsta Alcañiz) and the prostitute Marilyn Arena (Alma Rosa Castellanos).
The Good Life features a fascinating cadre of characters who help to explore the nature of human relations. A significant part of that - and the reason for much of the film's hilarity - is Tristan's grandfather (Luis Cuenca). Abuelo is a miserable old man who misses his wife terribly. He is extremely eccentric and equally intolerant of life in general, which he sees as pointless.
LOVE OR LIKE
The film is a wonderful tale about growing up. It's the kind of flick that one is either likely to love or like a lot. Made in 1997, The Good Life was screened at the Palace Cineplex Sovereign Centre on Sunday as a part of the European Union Film Festival 2005. The festival featured 11 films from Finland, France, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany.
It ends tonight at the Palace Cineplex with the screening of the Spanish film Mensaka (with subtitles), starring Gustava Salmeron and Tristan Ulloa and directed by Salvador Garcia Ruiz.
