2022 Directed by Carla Simón
For as long as they can remember, the Solé family has spent every summer picking the peaches in their orchard in Alcarràs, a small village in Catalonia. But this year’s crop may well be their last, as they face eviction. The new plans for the land, which include cutting down the peach trees and installing solar panels, cause a rift in this large, tight-knit family. For the first time, they face an uncertain future and risk losing more than their orchard.
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«Es más fácil criar cerdos que criar hijos.»
Vuelvo de un día de festival cargado de emociones, estoy justo sentado en la parada del metro con unas ganas abismales de llegar a casa y no sé si llorar, si simplemente dormir o estar tumbado sin hacer más que existir (porque a veces en eso consiste y no se necesita más) pero si hay alguna cosa que me llevo hoy es, sin duda, la última escena de Alcarràs, las cámaras detrás de los cogotes, la luz que entra entre los melocotoneros y las arrugas de un abuelo que son las arrugas de una historia que desaparece con la tierra. Una tierra que nunca nos pertenece, pero que siempre trabajamos. Y en…
madre mía, la secuencia de la comida todos juntos? no me creo que no sean família de verdad
This year's Golden Bear winner Alcarràs is unfortunately as underwhelming as its simple premise suggests, although it has moments of brilliance that show potential for Spanish newcomer Carla Simón.
Basically a docu-drama that documents the days after a Catalonian family learn about the news that they are about to lose their orchard, Alcarràs reminds me of Lucrecia Martel and Carlos Reygadas, in both good and bad ways.
Instead of providing shock values or dramatic plot devices to shake things up, Simón was bent on reflecting on the microscopic banality of everyday life, despite the potential for necessary tensions and urgency. Simón clearly loves and understands her people and their ways of living so much that she brought out the absolute best of the non-professional yet charming Catalonian ensemble. Jordi Pujol Dolcet and every child cast member were simply exceptional. I just wish Alcarràs as a whole were either more stylish or more emotional.
Tengo un par de problemas grandes con su discurso, aunque no sé si me explicaré bien. En primer lugar, me parece cuestionable que plantee el conflicto modernidad vs. tradición en unos términos tan maniqueos, enfrentando la capitalización del espacio rural con la figura de unos terratenientes desclasados, anacrónicos, incultos y machistas —enfrentando, a grandes rasgos, las placas solares con el trabajo manual, la máquina con el hombre en pleno 2022—. Por otra parte, también siento rechazo cuando emplea ese conflicto para aprovecharse dramáticamente, a través de las figuras del anciano y de la niña, de esa cosa tan reduccionista y tan propia de ciertos relatos mediáticos españoles que es la familia rota, un poco Patria desde los ojos del pagès.…
Nice pictures, good dialogues, authentic portrayal of the Catalan family in the village but otherwise... somehow nothing much happens. Had the feeling that potentially exciting plots were repeatedly touched upon, but then they came to nothing after 10 minutes.
I would have thought that the Berlinale winning film would have something that stood out in particular, but apart from the "authenticity" I don't really see anything there.
Final Score : 75% 🍎
Una gran decepción. Tras la voluntariosa e interesante Estiu 1993, Carla Simón vuelve a una historia familiar. En este caso, el drama de su pueblo, un lugar dominado por la agricultura familiar en un proceso de cambio económico estructural fruto de la globalización. Los nuevos dueños de la tierra deciden acabar con el huerto de melocotoneros que sirve de base de subsistencia de toda una familia para instalar un campo de paneles solares, que da mayor beneficio a cambio de menos esfuerzo.
Así, la película muestra la vida diaria de esa familia mientras recolecta la última cosecha de melocotones. La idea del film es introducirse en esa intimidad y filmar de forma distraída tanto momentos importantes para el desarrollo de…
Carla Simón ha dit literalment “visca la terra” i ho fa amb un costumbrisme i un amor per les persones i les coses que sento tan i tan proper. L’estimo molt, és la millor.
Winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlinale, Carla Simón’s “Alcarràs” shares its name with the tiny Catalonian town where her parents grow peaches, and — much like her nostalgically effervescent debut, “Summer 1993” — the title proves instructive. For all of the memorable characters who scramble around Simón’s fiercely unsentimental portrait of a family on the brink of losing their farm (along with the shared identity that has rooted them to its soil since before the Spanish Civil War), this is at heart a story about the land on which it’s set. It’s a buzzing and vibrant ensemble drama whose unruly cast pulls our focus in a dozen different directions at once, but also one that always returns…
Alcarràs is a slow burn, but as its tale of simmering family tension goes on, the film gets better and better. It's a film of change, on a social and economic level, and how that bleeds into the lives of the characters. The world in Alcarràs has moved on from the days when business agreements could just be spoken promises. In the background of Alcarràs there are protests from farmers who fear their livelihoods are no longer sustainable, while in the foreground the film is about people facing personal consequences as the world changes around them. Alcarràs is fairly safe as a realist drama, with nothing too imaginative or special in style or story, but it does become a moving depiction of the pain created in our ever-changing world. It's not a standout movie, but it has enough of interest to tell a powerful story really well.
