Yesterday Never Ends

"Ayer no termina nunca" (English captions) is endless! This award-winning endurance test from Spain triggered a minor Second Act Sneak from our 2013 Seattle International Film Festival screening audience as frustrated moviegoers quietly slipped away. For those of us who stuck it out, we were rewarded in a minor way by a little glimmer of optimism.

In this two-person talkathon directed by Isabel Coixet, a man (Javier Cámara) and a woman (Candela Peña) are meeting in a deserted building. There is no one attending a reception desk and the man calls for assistance to no avail. When a woman joins him, they eventually agree that "everyone has moved out."

They seem to be waiting for a real estate agent so they can sign some papers, but no one ever appears. Instead we are subjected to 108 minutes of unrelenting grief. In the past, they were married but their son died of meningitis while the husband was away on a business trip. One divorce and many years later, she has never forgiven him. Instead, she is stuck in her grief, while he has (eventually and reluctantly) moved on.

Both of these actors are extremely capable but we are exasperated by their inability to communicate or comfort one another. On the other hand, I was endlessly fascinated by the two concrete-walled sets on which the action (or lack thereof) took place.

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This You-Tube trailer is provided by SIFF (no English captions):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-Y32l8qSk
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