5/20/14

10,000 KM

The tagline for this one is: Is long distance the wrong distance? This award-winning entry from Spain/USA (Special Jury Recognition for Best Acting Duo: SXSW; Best Film, Actor, Actress and New Screenwriter: Malaga Spanish Film Festival) gives us video chats (Skype), texts, e-mails, Facebook status updates and phone calls between Los Angeles and Barcelona.

Director Carlos Marques-Marcet brings us:
  • Natalia Tena as Alex, a professional photographer who has put her career on hold to stay in Barcelona with her lover of seven years. She is flattered and excited to be offered a grant to exhibit her work in Los Angeles. She expects to be away for a year.
  • David Verdaguer is Sergi, studying for his board exams so he can become tenured. He is funny, considerate and extremely creative but he doesn't want to leave Spain.
I am convinced that these two are stage-trained actors because I have rarely seen (at least in modern filmmaking) actors capable of carrying a scene from beginning to end with few or no cuts, no editing and no tricks. These are highly capable performers! No wonder they won awards. The characters' use of social media is unusual, to put it mildly. Expect many sexual situations and forthright language (these are adults, after all), but be prepared to appreciate those long uncut scenes.

Naturally we would like to see our lovers be extraordinary and perfect, however that is NOT real life... Sigh...