Review of Madrid 1987 (2011 Film):

David Trueba, like most of his Spanish fellow directors, is a man with lots of ideas, which unfortunately rely on gimmicks to present this basically two character film that feels claustrophobic, not only in its setting, which takes place in a locked bathroom where a couple cannot escape from. The film is hermetic in form, relying on the fact that the couple is trapped inside a room with no possible solution for getting out of their predicament.

Miguel, a respected journalist, is admired by a young Angela, who wants to write and figures she can create an interest in the older man, whose only interest, plain and simple, is to have sex with the luscious woman. As the two get trapped, one thing comes out clear, Angela, with her young, supple body, stands in stark contrast against the aging Miguel, whose aging body is a turn off for Angela.

Mr. Trueba gives the best lines to Miguel, while poor Angela has nothing to show but her charms. The director makes sure his male star, Jose Sacristan is only photographed from the chest up, hiding his manhood from indiscreet exposure, but Maria Valverde has the difficult task of being a vulnerable and naked Angela.

t’s not a masterpiece, but it’s an important movie that I’m glad was made and that I was fortunate enough to see.

Like changing a diaper, this film is not fragrant or glamorous, but outlines a very basic reality of the man-woman relationships; Old wrinkled geezer wanting to get into panties of a young and beautiful girl, just for the heck of it, just to feel alive for a little longer. And the young beautiful girl not unwilling to let him – just for the opportunity to spice-up her dull existence, learn something (anything) from an older, more experienced person, And maybe, just-maybe, forward her artistic career as a result of it.

And for us, old geezers, it’s an opportunity to look in the mirror and see how pathetic we look, literally and figuratively speaking.